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VOL. LI I. 



CHICAGO, MAY, 1919. 



No 1 



1> 







V.&* 



WE are not to be in front of Him. He 
is to be in front of us. If I am fol- 
lowing a person whose leading and 
guiding I have committed myself to, that 
means that I don't go anywhere except where 
he leads me. // / am really following the 
Lord I will not be found in any position and 
circumstance into which He ivould not go 
before me. Others may fail us, but He won't 
fail those who are truly trusting and follow- 
ing Him. Then take this precious promise 
with you and go forward in the confidence that 
He is with vou. — /. R. Caldwell. 




OFFICIAL ORGAN, NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJJOCIATION 
10 CENTJ* A COPY ESTABLISHED I8*>8 1.00 A YEAR 



Vol. LII, No. 1 



CHICAGO 



MAY, 1919 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we will 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
at the Post Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
\Iar;i 3, 1873. 



CONTENTS 



Our June Meeting 3 

An Odd-Fellow Celebration 3 

An Odd-Fellow on Witness Stand, by Ja- 
cob Sproul 3 

Disabled Soldiers and Sailors Should Know 4 

Odd-Fellowship Weighed 5 

World's Christian Citizenship Conference. 6 
Fraternal Insurance — Indianapolis News.. 6 
Woodmen in Financial Straits — N civ York 

Times 6 

Lodge History, from "Ronayne's Reminis- 
cences" 7 

Worth Repeating . 10 

Wheaton College 10 

Some Christian Don'ts 10 

Ex-Kaiser Blames Masons— The Evening 

Star 11 

Labor Union Leaders Jailed — Chicago Her- 
ald-Examiner ; 11 

Adams. John Quincy, Letters of 12 

Is Democracy Doomed ? 17 

Christianity and Secret Societies, by Rev. 

Clarence Weston 19 

The Future of Lodges, by George O. States 20 
Is Our Country Safe ? 21 



News of Our Work : 

N. C. A. Annual Meeting 24 

Good Work in Iowa.... 25 

On the Pacific Coast 25 

A Word of Cheer 25 

Many Workers 26 

Winged Words 27 

Eastern Secretary's Report, by Rev. W. 

B. Stoddard 28 

"Lizzie Woods' Letter" , . 29 

Testimony in Delaware 31 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra ; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 

LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, 31 18 Fourteenth 
St., N. W. f Washington, D. C. 

Rev. Mead A. Kelsey, 221 College 
Ave., Richmond, Ind. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 
-New Orleans, Ls. 

Prof. Moses H. Clemens, Box 96. 
Ubee, Ind. 

Rev. C. G. Fait, Ellendale, N. D 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 
J — Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have I 
said nothing. 
—John 18:20 



OUR JUNE MEETING. 

. The Annual Meeting for 1919 of the 
National Christian Association will be 
held on Thursday and Friday, June 5th 
and 6th. 

The place in which the Conference will 
be held is the new Mennonite Church, 
1907 South Union avenue, Chicago, 
which is about two miles south of the 
Cynosure office and close to the corner 
of South Halsted and 19th streets. The 
Haisted street cars Number 8, 13, or 18, 
will take one within a block of the 
church. 

Those who may be counted upon as 
speakers and helpers in this meeting, and 
whom all wish to see and hear, are Rev. 
Thos. A. Maxwell, of Lincoln, Nebraska, 
well known to many of our readers by 
his tract, "The Lodge in the Light of 
the Scriptures ;" Rev. A. B. Bowman of 
Alma, Michigan, and General Secretary 
of the United Brethren Christian En- 
deavor Society ; Rev. George E. Coop- 
rider of Mendota, Illinois ; President 
Blanchard ; Secretary W. B. Stoddard ; 
and Mrs. Lizzie Woods Roberson. The 
last named persons are not only well 
known but well loved by thousands of 
N. C. A. friends. 

We also expect several others of whom 
at this writing we cannot speak positive- 
ly. One, for instance, is a woman evan- 
gelist of Kansas City, Missouri, who 
is strongly in sympathy with our work 
and who has courage to declare her con- 
victions and to take the consequences. 
Another is a Methodist Episcopal pas- 
tor in the East who has seceded from 
Masonry, Odd-Fellowship and several 
other secret societies. 

The first meeting will be held Thurs- 
day evening, June 5th, and the Annual 
Business of the Association will be tran- 
sacted during the day time of the 6th, 



beginning in the morning at 10:00 
o'clock. 

Will you not plan to be present and 
thus share something of the joy of serv- 
ing the Church of Jesus Christ at the 
point where Satan is making his most 
successful and deadly assault? A full 
program will be sent to any one request- 
ing it. Do not delay but sit down at 
once and write to Secretary W. I. Phil- 
lips, 850 W. Madison street, Chicago. 



AN ODD-FELLOW CELEBRATION. 

In view of the Centennial celebration 
of Odd-Fellowship in this country by 
the Odd-Fellows, we suggest that you 
secure enough of our tracts "Catechism 
on Odd-Fellowship" at one cent each to 
supply at least every Christian in your 
church, so that they shall have an intel- 
ligent understanding of this institution in 
their midst, and whether or not it is an 
agency for mesmerizing the spiritual life 
and activities of the church. 



AN ODD-FELLOW ON WITNESS 
STAND. 

I went into a photo gallery to get some 
prints I. ordered and while I was waiting 
a man who was sitting there, seeing my 
"Y" uniform started a conversation. It 
ran something like this : 

He said, I heard a sermon one night 
at one of the Y's that was the best ser- 
mon that I ever heard. I am an Odd 
Fellow, you know, and Odd Fellowship 
is all founded on the Bible, and that ser- 
mon was just like I have heard in the 
lodge, you know. After it was over I 
went up to the preacher and asked him 
if he was an Odd Fellow and he said. 
Yes. You know, if a man g^oes into the 
Odd Fellows and is not a Christian, and 
lives up to their teachings, he will be- 
come one. 

I asked him if a man was necessarilv 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



made a Christian by joining the Odd 
Fellows. 

Xo. he said, I know a number in the 
order who are not Christians, but they 
did not entirely live up to the teachings, 
and I was a Christian before I went in 

1 asked him what peculiar branch of 
religion the Odd Fellows have. 

Oh, thev don't have any brand of re- 
ligion. It's all in the Bible, and if we 
follow their teachings we will be Chris- 
tians because it is all taken from the 
Bible, you know. 

Xo, I said, I don't know. I am not 
an Odd Fellow. What do they teach 
you ? 

I can't tell you. because this is the 
ritual work, and it's secret. 

Do you mean to tell me, I asked, that 
the Odd Fellows steal parts from the 
Bible and sell it to you for secrets when 
there are no secrets? Do they put it 
over on you that way? 

Yes, he said, hesitating a little, I guess 
they do. They put it over on everybody 
that way. But you know, a man likes 
to buv what he thinks a secret even if 
it isn't. 

Then, I said, what is the sense of your 

joining the Odd Fellows, if you can get 

from the church what they have got to 

give you, and get it without paying dues? 

" Oh, we get other things besides. 

What, for instance? 

We get benefits. 

Well, you can join the Odd Fellows 
without taking out insurance, can't you? 

Yes, of course, but I don't mean that. 
I mean social benefits. 

Can't you get social benefits from the 
church? 

Xo, he replied, brightening up, appar- 
ently thinking he had me now. That is 
just the trouble with the church. 

Well, I said, why don't you pitch in 
and make your church what it should be. 
Why do you go into something else and 
knock the church? 

I can't do it alone, he replied. 

No, T said, but you are responsible 
for your part. The trouble with the 
church is that there are a lot of fellows 
just like you who don't do vour part and 
then kncck the very thing that is actually 
founded in and on the Bible. 

Just then the photographer came in 
with my prints, so our conversation 



stopped here. Just as I was going out, 
I heard a man who had been a spectator 
say to my conversationalist, He don't 
seem to think much of Odd Fellowship, 
which was a wise and true observation. 
Jacob Sproul. 



DISABLED SOLDIERS AND SAILORS 
SHOULD KNOW— 

That the Government is resolved to 
do its best to restore him to health, 
strength, and self-supporting activity. 

That until his discharge from hos- 
pital care the medical and surgical treat- 
ment necessary to restore him to health 
and strength is under the jurisdiction of 
the Military or Naval authorities. 

That the vocational training which 
may be afterwards necessary to restore 
his self-supporting activity is under the 
jurisdiction of the "Federal Board for 
Vocational Education." 

That if he needs an artificial limb or 
other orthopedic or mechanical appliance 
the Bureau of War-Risk Insurance sup- 
plies it free upon his discharge and re- 
news it when considered necessary. 

That if. after his discharge, he again 
needs medical treatment on account of 
his disability the Bureau of War-Risk 
Insurance supplies it free. 

That any man whose disability en- 
titles him to compensation under the 
War-Risk Insurance Act may be pro- 
vided by the Federal Board with a 
course of vocational training for a new 
occupation. 

That the Government strongly recom- 
mends each man who needs it to under- 
take vocational training and put himself 
under the care of the Federal Board, 
but the decision to do so is optional with 
each man. 

That on the satisfactory completion of 
his training the Federal Board, through 
its employment service, will assist him 
to secure a position. 

All disabled soldiers, whether in or 
out of the hospital, should address their 
communications to the Federal Board for 
Vocational Education, Washington, D. C 



The N. C. A. Conference in the Men- 
nonite Church, Chicago, begins on the 
evening of June 5th. Have delegates 
chosen by vour church who will re- 
main if possible through to the end of 
this annual meeting. 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



Odd-Fellowship Weighed 



THE LODGE. 

A question asked of the Sovereign 
Grand Lodge of the World by the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts. Read its re- 
port for Feb. 14, 1889, page 336. 

''Question — Is it lawful for a chaplain 
to commence and finish his prayers in 
the name of Christ? 

"Answer. — Our Order only requires a 
belief in the existence of a Supreme Be- 
ing as a qualification for membership, 
and has no affinity with any religious 
sect or system of faith. Hence, every- 
thing savoring of sectarianism is not to 
be tolerated. The words system of faith 
or sect do not have reference merely to 
sects within the pale of Christianity, but 
have a far broader significance, and in- 
clude all the religions of the world. In 
this sense Christianity is a sect ; hence 
it is inexpedient and, I think, unlawful 
to make prominent reference to it in 
Lodge work. . . . We have Jews 
and may have Mohammedans and other 
non-Christian sects within our Order, 
and the rule applies to them equally with 
members of the Christian faith." 

"In a word, what regeneration by the 
Word of Truth is in religion, initiation 
is in Odd-fellowship." — Rev. A. B. 
Grosh in his Manual of Odd-fellozvship, 
page 90, edition 1869. 

"The order as founded by Brother 
Wildey, was simply a humane institution. 
But- gradually there were infused into 
its lectures and charges much moral and 
(unsectarian) religious instruction; and 
at each revision these principles were in- 
creased, and deepened, and strengthened, 
until its beneficial and relief measures, 
from being ends, have become means to 
a higher and greater end — 'to improve 
and elevate the character of man ; to im- 
bue him with conceptions of his capabil- 
ity for good ; to enlighten his mind ; to 
enlarge the sphere of his affections, and 
thus to lead him to the cultivation of the 
true fraternal relations designed by the 
Great Author of this being.' ' —Groslis 
Manual, p. 34. 



THE BIBLE. 

"Be ye not unequally yoked together 
with unbelievers. . . . Come out 
from among them, and be ye separate, 
saith the Lord." — 2 Cor. 6:14, 17. 

"Whosoever therefore shall confess 
me before men, him will I confess also 
before my Father which is in heaven." 
— Matt. 10:32. 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life : 
no man cometh unto the Father, but by 
me." — John 14:6. 



"I am the door: by me if any man en- 
ter in, he shall be saved, and shall go 
in and out, and find pasture." — John 
10:9. 



"For whosoever shall be ashamed of 
me and of my words, of him shall the 
Son of man be ashamed, when he shall 
come in his own glory." — Luke 9 '.26. 



"Of his own will begat he us with the 
word of truth, that we should be a kind 
of firstfruits of his creatures." — James 
1:13. 



"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the 
Christ is born of God : and every one 
that loveth him that beerat loveth him also 



that is begotten of him."- 



1 John 5:1. 



"But as many as received him \ Jesus 
Christ], to them gave he power to be- 
come the sons of God, even to them that 
believe on his name: which were born, 
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God." — 
John 1:12, 13. 



Can a man be an intelligent, loyal member in such a religious system, and a 
consistent disciple of Him whose atonement for sin, whose authority as Sover- 
eign over the conscience, and whose very Name is denied in, and legally excluded 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



Ma^, 1919. 



from, its lodge rooms and worships? Are they not of those who "profess that 
they know God. but in works they deny him." — Titus i :i6. 



WORLD'S CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 
CONFERENCE. 

The third World's Christian Citizen- 
ship Conference which was to have been 
held in Pittsburgh, Pa., last summer but 
which was postponed on account of the 
war, will be held in Pittsburgh, Victory 
Week, Nov, 9-16, 1919. under the au- 
spices of the National Reform Associa- 
tion. 

An exceptionally strong program is al- 
ready assured. Among the Americans 
who have agreed to speak at the Confer- 
ence are the Hon. Charles Evans 
Hughes, formerly governor of New 
York, justice of the United States Su- 
preme Court and nominee for the presi- 
dency of the United States ; Frank J, 
Cannon, formerly U. S. Senator from 
Utah and the greatest living, authority 
on Mormonism ; Henry Van Dyke, au- 
thor, poet, ambassador to Holland ; Gif- 
ford Pinchot, statesman and authorit}) 
on conservation ; Mrs. Ella A. Boole, first 
vice president of the W. C. T. U., and 
others. 

The purpose of the conference is to 
gather together representatives from 
various nations to compare views as to 
the moral interests of mankind and to 
aid in conserving the moral gains and 
repairing the moral damage of the war. 



FRATERNAL INSURANCE. 

The position of a prominent fraternal 
organization which is faced with the ex- 
haustion of a $12,000,000 insurance fund 
within six months as a result of higher 
death rates, again suggests the need of 
finding a way to place the business of 
fraternal insurance in the United States 
under state supervision. The rates in 
the organization in question have been 
increased 50 per cent, but officials assert 
that the increase is not adequate. Later 
thev will probably have to be raised 
again. Influenza and soldiers' funds 
have depleted the resources of the society 
to such an extent that a large increase in 
income must be had immediately and 
provided for permanently. 

Pike situations have arisen again and 
again in the history of fraternal organ- 
izations. An excellent influence in many 



ways and helpful to thousands in hours 
of need, the societies would be more use- 
ful if holders of insurance policies in all 
of them could be certain that the funds 
were on a sound and scientific basis. The 
man who for many years pays regularly 
of a small income into a fraternal insur- 
ance society in order to protect his fam- 
ily in case of sickness or death and on 
reaching the later years of life, when his 
earning power is naturally decreased, 
finds that he must double his payments 
into the organization or lose all he has 
invested, is in an unpleasant position. If 
he does not pay the increase his benefit 
is forfeited and if any great number of 
members refuse to pay the organization 
is bankrupt and all lose. 

Operation on correct actuarial princi- 
ples should eliminate such disasters. The 
trouble usually is that in their first years 
and often for long periods an insurance 
organization can be run at cheap rates to 
members with seeming prosperity. A 
large surplus is quickly accumulated and 
to the inexpert the fund appears finan- 
cially unassailable. The crash comes 
when the members grow old and begin 
to die off in greatly increased numbers. — 
Indianapolis Nei&s, March 28, 1919. 



WOODMEN IN FIANCIAL STRAITS, 

Chicago, March 25. — A convention to 
save the Modern Woodmen of America 
from financial difficulties met here today. 
.A. R. Talbot, Head Consul, described 
the situation as critical. In October, 
1 9 1 8, he said, the society had a general 
fund of $10,000,000 in securities. This 
had dwindled to $640,000, owing to 
deaths from influenza and pneumonia, he 
explained. War claims also figured. 
During the war the society by a special 
assessment raised $6,000,000, out of 
which all war claims were met. Of this 
there remains $3,000,000. — New York 
Times, Mar. 26, 1919. 



The worst bigamist of all is the feller 
that marries a good, trustin' girl when 
he's already wedded t' three or four 
lodges. — Indianapolis News, Feb. 26, 
1919. 



May, 19)9. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



LODGE HISTORY. 



From Ronayne's Reminiscences. 
Being favorably impressed with the 
manner in which Odd-Fellows looked 

f after their burned-out members in the 
Chicago Fire of 1871 to which I have 
referred — so different from the empty 
bombast and the aristocratic display of 
Freemasonry — I got Frank Holcomb to 
propose me in Home Lodge, 416, I. O. O. 
F., Chicago, and was initiated in July 
or August, 1872. The initiatory cere- 
monies of an Odd-Fellow lodge differ 
very widely from those of Freemasonry, 
a chain taking the place of the cable-tow ; 
and a coffin containing an imitation 
skeleton being substituted for the canvas 
and the suppositious grave of the Ty- 
rian brass finisher. The hoodwink is 
retained and the members all wear 
masks, but the candidate's clothing is not 
removed, and instead of the awe-inspir- 

) ing oath and the brutal death penalty of 
Masonry there is a solemn promise or 
declaration with the "right hand placed 
over the left breast." There is no altar 
nor Bible in an Odd-Fellow lodge, but 
there is a chaplain, a brief invocation 
and a peculiar kind of alleged moral in- 
struction, while the impression is sought 
to be conveyed that the universal peace, 
blessing and brotherhood promise to the 
world through Jesus Christ in "the times 
of the restitution of all things," are to 
be attained through the influence of Odd- 
Fellowship and through that alone. A 
portion of the eleventh chapter of Isaiah 
is quoted when the candidate, conductor 
and torchbearers surround the coffin, 
special emphasis being laid on the bless- 
I ings promised in verses 6, 7 and 8, while 
all the rest of the chapter referring to 
the Lord Jesus Christ is scrupulously 
omitted. The devil knows well enough 
what the final outcome is to be, and by 
whom brought about, yet he will put 
forth his own lie, and influence men to 



believe the most witless nonsense, while 
they reject with scorn and contempt the 
truth of God as regards Jesus Christ. 
Odd-Fellowship and Masonry are alike, 
so far as the infidel character, the deism 
and the anti-Christian principles of both 
are concerned; they differ only as to the 
mode of initiation. Yet an old Meth- 
odist preacher named Perkins was the 
leading spirit in Flome lodge, 416, every 
member of which was an infidel. 

There is also another coincidence 
among all lodges, and that is the influ- 
ence exerted after the meeting is over. 
It is not the sociability of the lodge room 
itself that does any mischief, but the 
sociability of the saloon after the lodge 
is closed. From "labor to refreshment" 
is the usual practice in Masonry, and 
from the lodge to the grog shop the com- 
mon practice among Odd-Fellows and all 
other secret society people. I never 
knew any one being made better through 
his connection with secret societies, but 
on the other hand, I have known many a 
young man to be ruined, both morally 
and physically, through the "after meet- 
ings" of the lodge. Even one of my 
own boys told me once that he had never 
tasted a glass of beer or whiskey in his 
life until he became a Good Templar, 
and had received it then from the 
Worthy Chief Templar of Lincoln Lodge 

after the meeting had closed. 

Further Masonic Experience. 
In this connection it may be proper to 

add, that it would greatly astonish the 
"cowans" and "profane" on the out- 
side if they only knew what little regard 
a large proportion of adhering Master 
Masons have for the institution of Ma- 
sonry, its alleged benevolence ~and its 
vaunted friendship. I have heard worse 
things said of it by those inside the lodge 
than have ever come from the lips of the 
most intense Antimason in the country. 
Among ourselves we often expressed our 
minds quite freely, that is when we 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



could trust one another, but in the pres- 
ence of outsiders we stoutly defended 
the system and claimed for it as high a 
moral standard as one could desire. To 
illustrate this I shall merely relate one 
instance out of scores of cases, to show 
how its sublime ceremonies are some- 
times regarded by the befooled but cred- 
ulous candidate. 

A man named Roberts was proposed, 
balloted for, and received the first de- 
gree in Masonry. As in the case of 
Cronin and others, he was turned over 
to me to be "posted," and in due time 
was passed to the degre of a Fellow 
Craft. Again the "posting" went on, it 
being pretended all the time that what I 
was teaching him was a solemn secret, 
and I was often laughed at by the Ma- 
sons' wives of our acquaintance #who 
knew better. At last he went up to be 
made a Master Mason, and many of the 
members were inwardly chuckling in an- 
ticipation of how "Billy" would go 
through that "sublime" farce, and what 
he'd think of it. Going home from lodge 
a number of us were together — two Sam- 
uelsons, Lally, Anderson, myself, "Billy" 
Roberts and two or three others — and 
coming to my gate we stopped as usual 
to say good-night. Curious to know how 
Roberts felt over his experience of the 
evening I said to him, "Billy, now you 
have received all the Masonry there is, 
what do you think of it?" He looked at 
me and smiled, then looked at the others ; 
but all wishing to hear what he had to 
say cried out, "Yes, Billy, tell us what 
you think of Masonry. Don't be afraid, 
we're are all of the same mind." "Well, 
boys," he replied, "I went into the late 
war with a New York regiment, was 
captured by the rebels and sent to An- 
dersonville prison ; the world has used 
me pretty roughly between one thing and 
another, but I was never made such a 
blank fool of before in nly life !" The 



roars of laughter which followed this 
candid avowal could be heard a couple 
of blocks away. Roberts' saying was 
often commented upon among ourselves 
as a good joke on the sublime degree. 

Before saying good-bye to 1872, with 
all its peculiarly -exciting incidents, it 
may be well to add that at the annual 
session of the Grand Lodge of Illinois, 
always held on the first Tuesday in Octo- 
ber, Grand Master Cregier having de- 
livered his usual address, a series of 
resolutions was unanimously adopted, 
not only thanking the Masonic Board of 
Relief, but also endorsing the Executive 
Committee as to their treatment of desti- 
tute Master Masons, thus putting it for- 
ever out of the power of any one to as- 
sert that what that committee 'did were 
merely the acts of irresponsible individ- 
uals. The highest governing body of 
Masonry in the State having assumed 
the responsibility, Masonry and not men 
must be held accountable. The resolu- 
tions adopted by the Grand Lodge were 
as follows : 

"Resolved, That to the Most Worshipful 
Dewitt C. Cregier, president, Brethren H. F. 
Holcomb, vice-president, Wiley M. Egan, 
treasurer, Harry Duval, recording secretary, 
Ed. J. Hill, corresponding secretary, James 
Morrison, superintendent, and T. T. Gurney, 
D. J. Avery, John Feldkamp, E. Powell, D. 
Kilmore, A. M. Thompson, E. Ronayne, G. 
R. McClellan, C. J. Franks, James H. Miles, 
John Sutton, J. E. Church and I. W. Cong- 
don, members of the Board of Masonic Re- 
lief of Chicago, the grateful thanks of this 
Grand Lodge are eminently due for their 
self-sacrificing labors in relieving the necessi- 
ties of our brothers in distress, and the wis- 
dom, prudence and zeal displayed by them in 
the discharge of their sacred trust." 

"Resolved, That in grateful recognition of 
the eminent services rendered by the Masonic 
Board of Relief of Chicago, this Most Wor- 
shipful Grand Lodge cause the report of the 
Commission . . . together with the second 
and third of these resolutions to be hand- 
somely engrossed, framed and presented to 
each member of the said Board of Masonic 
Relief."— Grand Lodge Report for 1872, p. 86. 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



In the frame containing the "en- 
grossed" resolutions above mentioned 
?ach member's name was printed in 
aised letters. The one presented to me 
. hangs in my room as I write, but instead 
of the Grand Lodge resolutions it en- 
closes Isa. 53 :6 : "All we like sheep have 
gone astray, we have turned every one 
to his own way and the Lord hath laid 
on Him the iniquity of us all." 

James A. Hawley, of Dixon, 111., was 
elected Grand Master. As another illus- 
tration of Masonic benevolence it may be 
well to note that there was expended that 
year (1872) by the Grand Lodge in sal- 
aries, lodge gew-gaws, music, printing, 
etc., the enormous sum of $25,015.50, 
' while the item "charity" was credited 
with $100. In 173, as affirmed by the 
Grand Lodge Report, there was ex- 
pended for similar purposes the still 
larger amount of $28,822.19, but not a 
single cent for charity, and in 1874 the 
handsome sum of $11,363.63 was spent 
by the Grand Lodge on a few of its most 
favored members, but not a penny for 
the widow or the orphan ; and be it re- 
membered that the history of the Grand 
Lodge of Illinois in its practice of benev- 
olence is the history of all other Grand 
Lodges in the country. The rank and 
file of the members of Masonic lodges 
know better than to believe in any bom- 
bast about the benevolence of Masonry, 
and hence they frequently use the prov- 
erb, "As cold as Masonic charity." 
Royal Arch Mason said to me once, as 
we talked of Masonry in the old days 
"Ned, I would rather leave my wife and 
children in the den of a pack of wolves 
than in the care of Masons." — From 
"Ronayne's Reminiscences," by courtesy 
of the Free Methodist Publishing House. 
Chicago, 111. 



WORTH REPEATING. 

Mr. Philip Whitwell Wilson, Ameri- 
can representative of the London Daily 
News, former member of the British 
Parliament and author of "The Christ 
We Forget," is a grandson of Jonathan 
Baxter, the great Bible publisher of Eng- 
land. The following crisp paragraphs 
are from an address he made recently to 
the students of The Moody Bible Insti- 
tute of Chicago : 

"It was not enough for Cain and Abe! 
to be born brothers. Brotherhood must 
be born in the heart. 



"Noah taught the world that men need 
safety. I rather believe in that gospel 
myself, especially since I have had air 
raids thirty times over my house and 
picked up shrapnel on my door step. 
There were people struggling in the 
water who wanted to get into the ark, 
but there was no outstretched hand to 
help them. 

"Think of the people outside ! Real- 
ize that even though Noah landed on 
dry land he discovered that there were 
worse perils than cold water. 



"The people who built the tower of 
Babel said, 'Those old-fashioned evan- 
gelical Christians are all wrong. The 
important thing is to get the right social 
system : salvation by bricks and mortar ; 
that is what will lead people up to 
heaven.' The tower of Babel failed not 
because there was a lack of material to 
build it but because the men went on 
strike. 

"You see precisely the same phenom- 
enon in Russia today— Bolshevism, ideal- 
ism, without the power to realize it ; an 
endeavor to get men to be brothers with 
out getting the enmity out of their hearts. 



The greatest reward God ever bestows 
unon a man in this world is greater 
opportunity for service. 



"Abraham was the first of the pilgrim 
fathers. He taught that environment 
was the thing, but his children learned 
that there can be no Holy Land without 
holy hearts. 

"Toseph felt that the important f hinor 
was to s^tisfv the material ne^d of the 
peoo 1 e. LTe realized that t<~> feed th° pen- 
ile von must have authority. With all 
his p^nod intentions the necessary author- 
ity that he had developed into tyranny 



10 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



The people gradually became enslaved to 
the state and so we learn that food con- 
trol is only safe when.it is in the hands 
of Jesus Christ, whose service is perfect 
freedom." 




WHEATON COLLEGE. 

This institution has been for many 
years in one way and another identified 
with the movement against the secret 
societies of our country. It has never 
had any booms but it has steadily in- 
creased in the number of its college stu- 
dents, the character of its college work 
and its material resources. 

Parents are now planning for the year 
191 9-1920. They .are invited to com- 
municate with the college respecting any 
items about which they would like in- 
formation. We anticipate for the com- 
ing year the largest and the strongest 
work the college has ever done. 

For catalogs, circulars, admission 
blanks or other information, address the 
President of Wheaton College, Wheaton, 
111. . 



SOME CHRISTIAN DONT'S. 

Christians should not be members of 
any secret orders, since they are ex- 
pressly forbidden, "to be unequally yoked 
together with unbelievers." 2 Cor. 6-14. 
The unequal yoking referred to must 
at least include a union in worship and 
a religious fellowship with those who 
are not Christians. The unequal yoking 
implies, "fellowship," "Communion," 
"concord," or "participation." The 
apostle adds as the reason for this pro- 
hibition, "what fellowship has righteous- 
ness with unrighteousness." What com- 
munion life with darkness. And what 
concord hath Christ with Belial? or 
what part hath he that believeth with 



an unbeliever? and what agreement hath 
the temple of God with idols? for ye 
are the temple of the living God ; as God 
hath said I will dwell in them and walk 
in them and I will be their God and 
they shall be my people, wherefore come 
ye out from among them and be ye sep- 
arate and I will be a Father to you and 
ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith 
the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. 6, 15-18. 
There are no secret societies requiring 
their members shall be regenerated be- 
lievers in Christ ; all of them have a 
large proportion of the children of the 
world, and they are mainly controlled 
by men of the world, yet all constitute 
"brotherhood," in which all are united. 
All have their religious worship in which 
all are expected to unite and are expect- 
ed to be in concord, and in which each 
member is morally responsible for the 
acts of the whole. Now all such asso- 
ciation with the "world" is expressly 
forbidden for "ye are not of the world, 
but I have chosen ye out of the world." 
John, 16-19. It is also written "Love 
not the world, neither the things that 
are of the world. If any man love the 
world the love of the Father is not in 
him." 1 John 2, 15. The church which 
is the "temple of God" the body of 
Christ and the "pillar and ground of 
the truth," is the divinely appointed in- 
strument for the conversion of men, the 
sanctification of believers, the promotion 
of all true reform, and the relief of dis- 
tressed humanity. If other organizations 
are found necessary or desirable, they 
are, or ought to be, such as are in en- 
tire harmony with, and subordinate to 
the Living Head, organizations that shall 
be in His name, that shall give honor 
to Him. If men of the world have 
other organization for so-called benev- 
olent purposes, we may not unite with- 
them, since we are a peculiar people, and 
whatsoever we do in word or deed we 
are to "do all in the name of the Lord 
Jesus." Col. 3, 17. The great need of 
the Church is separation from the world. 

''God's Word prohibits the believer from 
forming alliances with the ungodly in so- 
ciety. Whenever the Christian surrenders 
himself to the society of the unbelieving 
world, 'his heart will be led away from God. 
This is especially true of thousands of 
Christian men who have deliberated voked 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



11 



themselves up with unbelievers in all man- 
ner of secret societies. This course of 
false alliance is doing more mischief to in- 
dividual Christian men by turning their hearts 
away from God and his service, and to the 
church by depleting and robbing her of her 
male membership, than any other one enemy 
of Christ. There never was a time when the 
cry, 'Come out from among them and be ye 
separate, saith the Lord,' was more needed 
than now." — From Dr. George F. Pentecost's 
Bible Studies, 1889, p 389. 



EX-KAISER BLAMES MASONS. 

"Freemasonry plotted the downfall of 
the Hohenzollern and Hapsburg houses." 
This is what the former kaiser thinks. 

My statement is based on several let- 
ters, written in the ex-emperor's own 
hand, which I have seen today. They 
were addressed to Dr. Theodor Schied- 
mann of the University of Berlin, who 
for twenty years has been an intimate 
friend of William II. The letters were 
shown to me in the course of a long in- 
terview, in which I learned much of the 
frame of mind of the former German 
) ruler. 

The interview took place in Dr. Schied- 
mann's home, in the west end of Berlin. 
Intensely loyal to his old imperial friend, 
the man interviewed showed himself 
convinced in his own mind that Wilhelm 
was not responsible for the bloodshed 
and misery charged to his account. 

America Planned Alliance. 
"It will interest you, too, to learn that 
more than once America has brought for- 
ward a plan for securing the world peace 
by an Anglo-American-German alliance. 
In 1909 S. S. McClure, the editor, vis- 
ited me and asked me to write an article 
favoring such an alliance. I compiled 
the article which appeared. In May, 
1910, Mr. McClure wrote to me and I 
laid my plan before Mr. Pierpont Mor- 
gan. I had already consulted Elihu Root. 
I was sure that the United States would 

D eagerly join in carrying out this pro- 
posal for the union of the three great 
nations. In this connection," added Dr. 
Schiedmann, "the emperor knew and ap- 
proved of my activities." 

But according to the former kaiser's 
letters even while he was dreaming these 
happy dreams of a solution of all the 
world's difficulties the Freemasons of 



the world were plotting the downfall of 
the Hohenzollern and Hapsburg houses. 
The whole affair, he writes, was engi- 
neered by the Grand Lodge of the Orient, 
to which President Wilson belongs. In 
a letter written a few weeks ago the ex- 
emperor says : 

"I have only now read Roll and Ush- 
er's pamphlet, published in 191 3, by or- 
der of the State Department, in which 
the coming world war was foretold. I 
had been reading the history of Freema- 
sonry, on which Karl Hesse's book, 
called 'Freemasonry in the Entente and 
World War,' was based. The revela- 
tions are surprising. Other books with 
which I have occupied my time are the 
secret memoirs of Count Hayashi and 
the problems of Japan." 

America Bound to Fight. 

This amazing letter goes on to state 
that through the machinations of the 
Grand Lodge of the Orient a pact had 
been mad by which Amrica, England and 
France were bound together, and that 
there never had been any question about 
America's participation when her serv- 
ices were needed. She was bound to 
fight. Here is the text of the letter on 
this point: 

"It was not the Lusitania ; it was not 
the U-boats which caused America to 
come in. These were only incidents 
raised and magnified by Mr. Wilson as 
excuses. It merely was that Mr. Wilson 
was carrying out his part of the pro- 
gram." — Reported by Gordon Stiles in 
The Evening Star (Washington, D. C.), 
Mar. 31. 1919. 



LABOR UNION LEADERS JAILED. 

Six labor union officials convicted in 
1916 of conspiracy to extort money from 
business men by threatening strikes, were 
taken to Joliet penitentiary yesterday for 
imprisonment. — Chicago Herald-Exam- 
iner, April 9, 1 919. 



No one ever wanders where a prom- 
ise of God's Word does not follow him 



To be contented with what we have 
is about the same as to own the earth. 



Trust in Christ to keep you trusting. 
Look to him so to abide in you as to 
keep you abiding. 



12 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



dJofjn (jpumr£ Afcama — &txtf)Pr? aftrnt United Btntm 



f We shall publish from time to time, under 
this heading, extracts from the letters and 
addresses of Mr. Adams on Freemasonry. 
These were written during the great antU 
masonic agitation, following the murder of 
William Morgan by the Freemasons, and 
are a very valuable series, whether viewed 
from either a literary or a historic stand- 
point.] 

At the time of the murder of Morgan 
I was exercising the office of President 
of the United States. Neither the penal- 
ties of Freemasonry nor the practical 
execution of them, by the Masons who 
murdered him, were known to the public 
in general, nor to me. Freemasonry ex- 
ercised an absolute control over all the 
public journals edited by members of 
the institution, and over many others by 
terror and intimidation. Months and 
years elapsed before the murder itself 
was fully proved — nor has it been judi- 
ciously proved to this day. The names 
indeed of the men who took him from 
his dungeon on the 19th of September, 
1826, and closed a torture of nine days' 
duration by sinking him in the middle 
of Niagara River, are perfectly well 
known. It is known that one of them 
was, according to Masonic law, upon 
avowal of his crime under the seal of 
the fifth libation, and under hot pur- 
suit by the officers of justice, furnished, 
by an encampment of Knights Templars 
in the city of New York, with the means 
of escaping from this country. But the 
witnesses to all these transactions are 
Freemasons, and, as accessories to the 
crimes of which they are cognizant, re- 
fuse or evade giving judicial testimony 
on the express ground that they might 
thereby criminate themselves. There 
are clouds of witnesses, but they are 
participators in the guilt ; and thus it is 
that Masonry protects itself from the 
judicial authentication of its crimes by 



the very multitude of its accomplices, all 
bound by the invisible chains of secrecy. 

But the trials of the Masonic out- 
rages in the State of New York have 
exhibited other expositions of Masonic 
law. Masonic juries have been packed 
by Masonic sheriffs, for the express 
purpose not only of screening the guilty 
from punishment, but of falsifying the 
facts by presentments and verdicts 
known to themselves to be untrue. Ma- 
sonic witnesses have refused to testify, 
and suffered imprisonment rather than 
disclose the facts known to them, even 
when they did not criminate themselves 
Nor is this all. When conscience, burst- 
ing the bands of Masonry, has con- 
strained Masonic witnesses to testify to 
crimes in which they themselves shared, 
and to the secrets of the craft, solitary 
Masonic jurors have refused their assent 
to verdicts, upon which all their fellows 
were agreed, on the avowed resolution 
that they would not believe any testi- 
mony of a seceding Mason. 

The extent to which the public jus- 
tice of the country had been baffled, and 
the morals of the people vitiated by 
Freemasonry, was therefore disclosed to 
me gradually, and by a slow process, of 
time. Absorbed by other cares, and 
with time engrossed by the discharge of 
other duties, I was for years very im- 
perfectly informed either of the laws 
of Masonry, or of the ascendancy they 
were maintaining over the laws of the 
land, or of the deep depravity with which 
they were cankering the morals of the 
people. Morgan's book was not pub- ( 
lished till some months after his death ; 
and when published, the Masonic presses 
long labored in their double vocation of 
suppressing truth and propagating false- 
hood, by representing the disclosures of 
that book as false. Yet Morgan had re- 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



13 



vealed the secrets only of the first de- 
grees, and the deepest of Masonic abom- 
inations were yet screened from the pub- 
lic eye. It was not until the fourth of 
July, 1828, that the convention of seced- 
ing Masons, held at Le Roy, New York, 
made public the secrets, oaths, obliga- 
tions, and penalties of the higher de- 
grees. Nor were the proceedings of that 
convention made known to me till I 
found them in David Bernard's "Light 
on Masonry." 

To that book and its author permit 
jne, my fellow-citizens, while recom- 
mending it to your perusal and medita- 
tion, to offer the tribute of unfeigned 
respect — a tribute the more richly de- 
served for the slanders which Masonic 
benevolence and charity have showered 
upon them. Elder David Bernard was 
a minister of the Genesee Baptist Asso- 
ciation in the State of New York. He 
was a man of good repute, and of blame- 
less life and conversation. Like many 
others, he was ensnared into the taking 
of fifteen degrees of Masonry, and was 
the intimate secretary of the Lodge of 
Perfection. He was one of the first 
seceders from the order, and from that 
time underwent every possible persecu- 
tion from Masons, and the frequent 
danger of his life. Among the most in- 
teresting documents demonstrating the 
true spirit of Masonry, which have ap- 
peared in the course of this controversy, 
is the plain and unaffected narrative of 
the treatment which he received, and of 
the scenes which he witnessed at the 
meetings of lodges and chapters, before 
the murder of Morgan as well as after, 
from the time when it was projected in 
them. That it was so projected is es- 
tablished by his testimony, confirmatory 
of numerous other demonstrated facts. 

To David Bernard, perhaps more than 
to any other man, the world is indebted 
for the revelation of the most execrable 



mysteries of Masonry, nor could he, as 
a minister of the word of God, have 
performed a service to his country and 
his fellow-christians more suitable to his 
sacred functions. It was principally by 
his exertions that the Le Roy convention 
of seceding Masons assembled and pub- 
lished the oaths, obligations, and penal- 
ties of the higher degrees of the order. 

From the time of that publication the 
whole system of Masonic Laws and 
their practical operation, having relation 
to the disclosure of their secrets, have 
been gradually unfolding themselves, and 
the law and its execution have been con- 
tinual commentaries upon each other 
When the murder of Morgan was first 
perpetrated the instances were frequent 
of its being openly justified by members 
of the institution, as being but the execu- 
tion of a penalty t^> which he himself had 
assented — as it certainly was. Another 
class of Masons, somewhat less resolute, 
contented themselves with maintaining 
that he was a perjured wretch for violat- 
ing his oaths, and if he had been put to 
death, had only suffered what he de- 
served. A third class sturdily denied 
the facts even after everything but the 
last act of murder had been proved in 
regular judicial trials ; and a fourth, in- 
trenching themselves in ignorance, which 
they took care always to preserve by 
turning away their eyes from all evi- 
dence of the facts, rested their defense 
from the charge of Morgan's murder by 
professing that they knew nothing about 
it. 

From the time when I first perused 
Elder Bernard's book, I became con- 
vinced that it was impossible for me to 
discharge my duties as a citizen to my 
country by knowing nothing about it. 
By a constant comparison of the laws 
of Masonry with their practical execu- 
tion, from the robbery of Morgan's man- 
uscripts and the abortive attempt to burn 



14 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



Miller's house, to the escape of Richard 
Howard from justice and from this 
country, a great multitude of facts com- 
bined to demonstrate the pervading ef- 
ficacy of all the Masonic obligations. 
Measures always enfeebled and thwarted 
by Masonic influence were taken by the 
legislature and executive of the State 
of New York, to detect and bring the 
offenders to justice. The trials of the 
criminals were in progress ; I endeavored 
to obtain information of their course 
and termination. The letters of Col. 
Stone upon Masonry and Antimasonry 
were addressed to me in consequence of 
inquiries made by me, to another person, 
and communicated to him. With regard 
to the facts ascertained by those trials, 
the reports made to the legislature of 
Xew York, and the proceedings of the 
first Antimasonic convention, held at 
Philadelphia, with the essays of William 
Slade upon the Masonic penalties, and 
the defense of Masonry by the grand 
lodge of Rhode Island, all concurred in 
furnishing a mass of information from 
which my conclusions were deduced. 

I saw a code of Masonic legislation 
adapted to prostrate every principle of 
equal justice, and to corrupt every senti- 
ment of virtuous feeling in the soul of 
him who bound his allegiance to it. I 
saw the practice of common honesty, the 
kindness of Christian benevolence, even 
the abstinence from atrocious crimes, 
limited exclusively by lawless oaths and 
barbarous penalties to the social rela- 
tions between the brotherhood of the 
craft. I saw slander organized into a 
secret, widespread, and affiliated agency, 
fixing its invisible fangs into the hearts 
of its victims, sheltered by the darkness 
of the lodge-room and armed with the 
never-ceasing penalties of death. I saw 
self-invoked imprecations of throats cut 
from ear to ear, of heart and vitals torn 
out and cast forth to the wolves and vul- 



tures, of skulls smitten off and hung on 
spires. I saw wine drank from a human 
skull, with solemn invocation of all the 
sins of its owner upon the head of him 
who drinks from it ; and I saw a wretched 
mortal man dooming himself to eternal 
punishment (when the last trump shall 
sound) as a guaranty for idle and ridicu- 
lous promises. Such are the laws of 
Masonry ; such their indelible character 
— and with that character perfectly cor- 
responded the history of the abduction 
and murder of Morgan, and the history 
of Masonic lodges, chapters, and en- 
campments, from that day to the present. 

To this general assertion numerous 
exceptions must be made, not only of in- 
dividual Masons but of whole lodges 
and chapters, — I wish I could say of en- 
campments, which have surrendered 
their Masonic charters, or "silently dis- 
solved themselves. Other lodges and 
chapters have ceased to hold their meet- 
ings, and I have heard of yet others, 
which, still holding their meetings, have 
ceased to administer any of the oaths. 
Besides these there are numbers of in- 
dividual Masons who have silently se- 
ceded and withdrawn from that institu- 
tion without renouncing it. It is prob- 
able that these exceptions include one- 
third of all the Masons in the free states 
of this Union ; and to them no observa- 
tion of censure which I have made upon 
Masonry or upon Masons can apply. 
Their bearing is only upon adhering 
Masons and Masonry. 

But of that censure the grand encamp- 
ment, the grand chapter, and grand lodge 
of New York must take their full share. 
Their opinion of the laws of Masonry, 
and of their true exposition, is the same 
as mine. They have proved it by their 
deeds. They know that the kidnappers 
and assassins of Morgan, the robbers of 
his manuscript, the slanderers who false- 
ly charged him with larceny to seize up- 
on his person and accomplish his de- 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



IS 



struction, the incendiaries of the house 
of Miller; that the sheriffs who packed 
Masonic juries, the juries who falsified 
their verdicts, the witnesses who refused 
to testify, or deliberately testified to 

f falsehood ; they knew that all these had 
but acted in strict conformity and faith- 
ful obedience to the letter and spirit of 
the Masonic laws. So well did they 
know it, that far from expelling any one 
of these criminals from the fraternity 
they have hailed and recognized them as 
worthy brothers of the craft, have 
cheered them with consolation in their 
sufferings, indemnified them with money 
for their imprisonment, and spirited 
away one at least of the ruffians, whose 
hands were reeking with the blood of 
murder, from the public justice of their 
country. 

All this, fellow-citizens, have I seen, 
through a succession of time, now ex- 

| tending to more than seven years. To 
inform myself of the facts I deemed a 
duty of paramount obligation upon me, 
as a man, a citizen, and a Christian ; 
especially after my release from the 
arduous duties of public office. Had I 
been actuated by no other motives than 
sympathy with the feelings of my own 
immediate neighborhood and friends, I 
trust they would have needed no apol- 
ogy. It happened that the attention of 
the inhabitants of my native town of 
Quincy had been drawn to the facts of 
the Morgan tragedy and of the laws of 
Masonry, years before I came to reside 
among them. There is a Masonic lodge 
in that town, and many of its members 
are among the worthiest and most re- 

r % spected citizens of the place. Several of 

P them are my personal friends and kins- 
men. When the Masonic controversy first 
made its way into this commonwealth the 
people of that town were among the first 
who became acquainted with the Ma- 
sonic laws as they were divulged, and 



with the Masonic crimes in New York, 
their natural progeny. A large majority 
of them became Anti-Masons, and so I 
found them upon my return among 
them. The spirit of Anti-Masonry had 
already pervaded the counties of Nor- 
folk, Plymouth and Bristol; and the se- 
cession of the Rev. Moses Thacher, and 
the controversies, ecclesiastical and po- 
litical, in which that step had involved 
him, occasioned much agitation among 
this portion of the people in the com- 
monwealth. 

In these dissensions I took no part : but 
I should have been insensible to all my 
duties had I closed my eyes to facts or 
turned my ear from argument, and 
smothered the sense of justice in my 
soul, for the privilege of blinking the 
public question which was convulsing 
the neighborhood in which I lived, by 
professing to know nothing about it. 

Yet I did not intrude myself as a vol- 
unteer in the controversy. It had been 
erroneously stated in a newspaper, edited 
by a high Masonic dignitary in Boston, 
that I was a Mason. In answer to an 
inquiry from a person in Xew Y r ork, 
whether I was so, I had declared that / 
was, not, and never should be. This let- 
ter, without my knowledge or consent 
crept into the public prints ; and from 
that day the revenge of Masonic charity, 
from Maine to Louisiana (I speak to the 
letter), marked me for its own. At the 
critical moment of the presidential elec- 
tion, in the counties of Xew Y T ork where 
Anti-Masonry was most prevailing, a 
handbill was profusely circulated, with a 
deposition upon oath, attested by a Ma- 
sonic magistrate, of an individual, real 
or fictitious, swearing that he had been 
present at two different times (the dates 
of which were specified) with me at 
meetings of a Masonic lodge at Pitts- 
field — a town in which I had never en- 
tered a house in my life. 



16 



HRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



This was the first punishment inflicted 
upon me by Masonic law, for declaring 
that I should never he a Mason. The in- 
fluence of Masonry upon that presiden- 
tial election was otherwise exerted with 
considerable effect ; and of the more re- 
cent election it decided, perhaps, the fate. 
I never noticed either the false annuncia- 
tion in the Boston Sentinel that I was a 
Mason, or the oath of the worthy brother 
of the square and compass that he had 
twice met me at the lodge in Pittsfield. 
They were both calumnies, as strictly 
conformable to Masonic laws as to Ma- 
sonic benevolence, and have been fol- 
lowed up by slanders coined at the same 
mint and circulated through all the fra- 
ternizing presses of the land. 



PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE. 

The most earnest and systematic cam- 
paign for Philippine independence that 
has ever been made in the United States 
is now under full headway. 

This work is being directed by "The 
Philippine Mission," officially empow- 
ered by the Philippine Legislature to 
proceed to America and work for inde- 
pendence, and "to promote better under- 
standing, greater confidence, and closer 
economic relations between the United 
States and the Philippines." Members of 
the Mission declare that the 10,000,000 
inhabitants of the islands are practically 
a unit for independence. 

The Mission is composed of forty of 
the more progressive and best known 
men of the islands, all Filipinos. It is 
headed by Manuel L. Quezon, president 
of the Philippine Senate, and well 
known in Washington, having been for 
eight years the Resident Commissioner 
from the Philippines to Congress. 

The party also includes Philippine sen- 
ators, members of the house of represen- 
tatives, secretaries of departments, mem- 
bers of both political parties in the Phil- 
ippines, as well as representatives of 
agriculture, industry, commerce, capital, 
labor, education and the press. 

In presenting resolutions of the Phil- 
ippine Legislature to Secretary of War 
Baker, Mr. Quezon described the feeling 



of the Filipino people on the subject of 
independence, saying : 

"The Philippine Legislature at the be- 
hest of the Filipino people sent this Mis- 
sion to the Lmited States bearing the 
message of good will, gratitude, and re- / 
spect from all the inhabitants of the \ 
Philippine Islands. 

"The Philippine Mission. Mr. Secre- 
tary, is here charged with a high and sol- 
emn obligation. It is enjoined with a 
noble and sacred trust. It is instructed 
to present the great cause so essential 
and necessary to the happiness and ex- 
istence of the entire Filipino people. I 
refer to our national birthright to be free. 
and independent. We, therefore, for- 
mally submit hereby the vital and urgent 
question of Philippine Independence to 
you. and through you, to the Government 
of the L T nited States in the confident 
hope that it shall merit a just, righteous, 
and final settlement. 

"Independence is the great national 
ideal of the Filipino people. The mem- 
bers of the Philippine Mission here, rep- 
resenting all elements of Philippine life, 
are, one and all, ready to testify to the ( 
absolute truth of this assertion. We be- 
lieve that this is the proper time to pres- 
ent the question, looking to a favorable 
and decisive action, because of the de- 
clared and uniform policy of America to 
withdraw her sovereignty over the Phil- 
ippine Islands and to recognize our in- 
dependence as soon as a stable govern- 
ment can be established. That there is 
now a stable government in the Philip- 
pines managed and supported by the 
people themselves, and that it can and 
will be maintained under an independ- 
ent Philippine government, the testimony 
of your own official representatives, Gov- 
ernor-General Harrison and Acting Gov- 
ernor-General Yeater. will bear out. The 
fulfillment of this solemn promise you 
owe to yourselves, to us, and to human- 
ity at large. 

"We also find inspiration and justifica- ,■ 
Hon for our decision to appeal at this ( 
time to the government and people of 
the United States for the granting of our 
independence in the declaration of prin- 
ciples for the preservation of which 
America in the recent world war held 
life and property cheap. America fought 
'for the liberty; the self-government, and 



Mav, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



17 



the undicteted development of all peo- 
ples,' and cheerfully assumed her full 
share in the war 'for the liberation of 
peoples everywhere.' Mr. Secretary, may 
I be permitted to recall at this juncture 
that in fighting for so high and noble 
ideals the Filipino people have stood by 
you during the critical years of the 
gigantic struggle and, to a man, were 
ready, nay anxious, to shed their blood, 
side by side with your own soldiers? 

"Through the joint labor of Americans 
and Filipinos, the history of your occu- 
pation of the islands is replete with 
achievements great, and results splendid. 
You have truly treated us as no nation 
has ever before treated another under its 
sway. And yet you — and none better 
than you— will understand why, even un- 
der such conditions, our people still crave 
independence, that they, too, may be sov- 
ereign masters of their own destinies. 

"Sir, when our national independence 
shall be granted us, the world will know 
that the people of America are indeed 
'bearers of the good will, the protec- 
tion, and the richest blessings of a liber- 
ating rather than a conquering nation,' 
and that it was our liberty, not your 
power, our welfare not your gain you 
sought to enhance in the Philippines." 



IS DEMOCRACY DOOMED? 



What Secret Societies Claim and What 

They Do in Respect to Civil 

Government. 

It is most natural, perhaps inevitable, 
that a secret combination bound under a 
most stringent code, and conscious of its 
vast numbers and its influence, should 
conclude that its powers are paramount, 
and that any interference or inquiry by 
civil authority is an invasion of its rights 

The relation of Freemasonry to the 
state is thus set forth by Masonic law : 
"Treason and rebellion also, because they 
are altogether political offenses, cannot 
be inquired into by a lodge ; and although 
a Mason may be convicted of either of 
these acts in the courts of his country, 
he cannot be masonically punished. Not- 
withstanding his treason and rebellion, 
his relation to the lodge, to use the lan- 
guage of the Old Charges, remains in- 
defeasible." (Mackey's Masonic Juris- 
prudence, page 510.) 

Here one of the highest crimes known 



to civil law is regarded as putting no 
blemish on the perpetrator. The same 
may be regarded as substantially true of 
other secret orders. They are a law unto 
themselves. The following from the 
Grand Lodge of Missouri, 1867, illus- 
trates this principle : "Not only do we 
know no North, no South, no East, no 
West, but we know no government save 
our own. To every government save 
that of Masonry we are foreigners ; and 
this form of government is neither pon- 
tifical, autocratic, monarchical nor des- 
potic ; it is a government per se, and that 
government is Masonic. We have noth- 
ing to do with forms of government, 
forms of religion, or forms of social 
life. We are a nation of men only bound 
to each other by masonic ties as citizens 
of the world, and that world the world 
of masonry — brethren to each other all 
the world over, foreigners to all the 
world besides." The editor of this re- 
port very justly says that "this is free- 
masonry in a nut-shell." 

The charge that freemasons are not 
free to testify against their brother 
masons, when charged with crime, has 
been very generally denied by members 
of the order. It is quite probable that 
many Masons do not so understand their 
masonic covenant, but the following ac- 
count of a masonic trial in Hartford, 
Conn., in 1895, throws a flood of light 
on this question. Dr. Malcolm R. Gris- 
wold, was duly tried and convicted of 
the crime of arson, the principal witness 
for the prosecution was Dr. Fred C. 
Jackson. Both were Freemasons and 
members of the same lodge. Because 
Dr. Jackson gave this testimony, when 
duly sworn by the civil court to tell the 
truth, the whole truth and nothing but 
the truth, and told what he knew about 
the crime of his brother Mason, he was 
summoned before the lodge, charged 
with gross unmasonic conduct "To-wit, 
that the said Jackson has violated his 
solemn obligation in divulging the se- 
crets of a brother," and after trial he was 
expelled from the lodge. 

The following taken from the Hart- 
ford Times of Dec. 5. 1895, is a copy of 
the notice of expulsion: "Hartford, 
Conn., Dec. 24, 95, Frederick C. Jack- 
son, Esq're. Dear Sir; It is my unpleas- 
ant duty to inform you that at a stated 



18 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



communication of Hartford Lodge, -No. 
88, A. F. and A. M., held at Masonic 
Hall in this city on Monday eve, Dec. 
23, '95, you were expelled from member- 
ship in said lodge and all the rights and 
privileges of Freemasonry, for gross un- 
masonic conduct. Attest, B. W. Ed- 
wards. Sec." 

The part of the masonic covenant 
which Dr. Jackson violated was pro- 
nounced by the committee of the Legis- 
lature of Rhode Island to be "distinctly 
criminal" and is as follows: ''Further- 
more I promise and swear, that I will 
keep the secrets of a Master Mason 
when communicated to me as such, as 
sacred and inviolable as my own before 
communicated." This action of the 
Hartford Lodge is the masonic interpre- 
tation put on this covenant. 

It would seem to settle the question 
whether a man could be at the same 
time, and under all circumstances, a con- 
sistent Freemason and a law abiding citi- 
zen. Nor is this the only case that ap- 
pears on record. The following is well 
authenticated : 

"There was a large crowd gathered 
in the Waltham District Court room yes- 
terday, to listen to the trial of the of- 
ficers of the local lodge of Orangemen, 
charged with assault and battery on two 
candidates who were being initiated into 
the order. The alleged assault and bat- 
tery consisted of branding the candidates 
on their arms and breasts and severely 
whipping them on their legs. The com- 
plainant was Mr. Frank A. Preble, and 
the story told of his experience in being 
made a member of the lodge was highly 
sensational. 

"Mr. Edward Arch, who was initiated 
the same evening, but who was not a 
complainant, told of Mr. Preble's treat- 
ment, and added much to the strength of 
the story. He was an eye-witness to all 
that took place, and on points where Mr. 
Preble was weak, because of being blind- 
folded, he strengthened his testimony. 

"Judge Luce, in making his decision, 
said the evidence showed that the man 
went to the lodge room on the evening 
of July 20th expecting to be initiated. In 
the ante-room he was told to remove his 
clothing, to which he objected. On be- 
ing assured he would not be hurt, he did 
as required, and was conducted into the 



lodge room, where, in part of the initia- 
tion he was whipped upon the legs and 
branded upon the breast, making marks 
which will probably last him for life. 
T suppose,' continued Judge Luce, 'that 
when a man joins a secret society he ex- 
pects to go through some form of initia- / 
tion, but does not expect to be unreason- 
ably injured, and I consider the injury 
this man received to be beyond reason.' 

"The judge then fined each of the of- 
ficers thirty-five dollars." — From the 
Boston Journal of Aug. 20, 1896. 

There have been undoubtedly many 
similar cases to that of Dr. Jackson, 
some of which the lodge has been unable 
to surpress. 

Judge Daniel H. Whitney was Wor- 
shipful Master of Belvidere Lodge, No. 
60, Belvidere, 111. A member of his 
lodge, Samuel L. Keith, murdered a 
beautiful orphan whom he had ruined. 
He was protected by the sheriff and 
other members of the Masonic lodge. 

judge Whitney refused to enter into 
the conspiracy, and was tried by the 
Grand Lodge of Illinois for gross un- 
masonic conduct for taking the position 
that he did, and suspended from all 
rights and benefits of Freemasonry dur- 
ing the pleasure of the Grand Lodge of 
Illinois. Judge Whitney's defense be- 
fore the Grand Lodge was published. 

There is a large number of cases in 
which there is no legal proof that the 
secret lodge influence was used to pervert 
justice, yet the circumstances were such 
that it is morally certain that such was 
the case. We have alluded to the abduc- 
tion of Wm. Morgan and the associated 
crimes, and find that while no one was 
legally convicted of his murder, there is 
no room for doubt that he came to his 
death by the hands of his brethren in the 
order. After years of faithful but fruit- 
less investigation, John C. Spencer, the 
able attorney of the state of New York 
together with Millard Filmore, Wm. H. 
Seward and other eminent statesmen, de- 
clared : / 

"The Masonic fraternity tramples on 
our rights, defeats the administration of 
justice, and bids defiance to every gov- 
ernment that it cannot control." 

Doubtless masons since then have been 
far more wary, and the number of good 
citizens that are included in the Masonic 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



19 



and other secret orders serve as a re- 
straint upon the exercise of unlawful 
power, nevertheless the possibilities re- 
main the same, and are constantly re- 
curring evidence of their abnormal in- 
fluence over our courts of justice. 

The vast increase of crime against life 
and property and the pre valance of 
lynching and other murders prove that 
the great multiplication of secret orders 
has had no influence in promoting pub- 
lic morals, while the obstructions to the 
administration of justice have led the 
people to take the law into their own. 
hands and impose sanguinary penalties. 
All of which has been greatly to the in- 
jury of the public good. 

One of the most striking examples of 
the attitude of Freemasonry to the 
state, was given in the investigation 
which took place before the Pennsyl- 
vania Legislature in 1834. This inves- 
tigation was published in a volume by a 
distinguished Freemason of that state 
and held up as an example of the perse- 
cution of the Masons by the Anti-ma- 
sons. The facts are briefly 3s follows. 
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, in 
view of the abduction and probable mur- 
der of Morgan and the failure of the 
state to secure the punishment of those 
engaged in the crime, thought they 
ought to investigate the character of an 
institution that made such a crime pos- 
sible. They accordingly summoned be- 
fore them all the members of the Grand 
Lodge, including in the number Geo. M. 
Dallas, afterward the Vice-President of 
the U. S., and asked them, under oath, 
to state the essential facts about the na- 
ture and covenants of Freemasonry. 

With one consent, they refused to be 
sivorn, or to give any testimony in the 
Case. They justified themselves on the 
grounds that this investigation was an 
invasion of their rights as citizens, and 
that they were "not bound to incrimi- 
nate themselves." In his report to the 
Legislature Hon. Thaddeus Stephens 
held that such a defense was a "practical 
admission that every part of Masonry 
was criminal otherwise they might have 
given some testimony." 

It was in this same connection that he 
declared that in his opinion, "The trial 
by jury instead of being the palladium of 
our rights has been changed into a sys- 



tem of despotism and masonic fraud." 
Such was the intensity of feeling en- 
gendered by the machinations of the se- 
cret lodges. 

I will briefly summarize the following 
points. First, the secret lodge system 
denies to the state all right of an in- 
vestigation as to its character or con- 
duct. None but those sworn to secrecy 
may know what it is or what it does. 

Second, it denies to members of the 
lodge the right to communicate lodge 
secrets even when the public good de- 
mands it, and the courts require it. 

Third, it has no respect for the de- 
cisions of the courts in determining the 
character of its members but is prac- 
tically a law unto itself. 



CHRISTIANITY AND SECRET 
SOCIETIES. 

BY REV. CLARENCE WESTON. 

That the lodge system has many re- 
ligious elements in it is plainly seen from 
the fact that the lodge makes use of 
hymns and prayers and rituals, even tak- 
ing full charge of burial services, etc. 
Some lodges are more religious than 
others, but it can not be said that the re- 
ligion of the lodge is Christian. The 
name of Christ is ruled out of the re- 
ligious exercises so as not to offend any 
one. Lodge religion is very "broad" and 
reminds one of the broad way spoken of 
in Scripture. 

It is a sad fact that multitudes of so- 
called Christians are tied up to the lodge. 
If we are correctly informed this is what 
is set forth in the Bible as spiritual adul- 
tery. The Christian has no more right 
to mix up with lodge religion than he has 
to join in with a Buddhist in his religious 
worship. 

There are many who make the lodge a 
substitute for the church ; they tell us 
that any one will be all right if he lives 
up to the teachings of the lodge, and yet 
the oaths that are taken in some lodges 
teach murder; and it is said people have 
been murdered for violating their obli- 
gations. The man who is making the 
lodge .a substitute for the church is lean- 
ing on a broken reed and stands a good 
chance of being lost forever. 

Quite a few denominations will not 
admit lodge members into their com- 
munion. There must be a good reason 



10 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



for such a radical measure, and you can 
be sure there is ; otherwise it would not 
stand. The best men in these churches 
formulated these rules and they knew 
what they were doing. All churches like 
to get members, but no church ought to 
sacrifice spirituality for this purpose. We 
believe one reason why so many churches 
are spiritually dead is because they are 
"lodged." 

For a few cents one can get literature 
which will tell all the mysteries and oaths 
of most any lodge. You do not need to 
join to find out about them. Write the 
National Christian Association, 850 W. 
Madison street, Chicago, Illinois. They 
will furnish you most anything you wish 
in that line. 

"There is nothing covered that shall 
not be revealed," and these things have 
been revealed over and over again. 

Keep clear of the lodge system. If 
you are in already, "come out from 
among them." It is one of the devil's 
traps. But you say that there are finan- 
cial benefits connected with lodge mem- 
bership. This may be so; Satan is will- 
ing to pay a good price for your soul, 
but "what shall it profit a man if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul?" 
W T hat the world needs is clean-cut Chris- 
tianity. Popular churchianity of to-day 
sets a low standard and most people seem 
willing to live by it ; but the Bible stand- 
ard is a high one and ever will be. 

Upon the banner of our God the words 
absolute perfection might be placed, for 
this is the goal of the Christian. Abso- 
lute perfection when we see Jesus, for 
then "we shall be like Him." Christian 
perfection, which means a heart cleansed 
from all sin and filled with the Holy 
Spirit, is attainable now. How is your 
heart ? 

Aurora, Nebraska. 



Faith is not asking the Lord for 
bushels and setting out a pint measure 
to catch them. 



Faith carries present loads, meets 
present assaults, feeds on present prom- 
ises, and commits the future to a faith- 
ful God. 



Nothing is so utterly, hopelessly lost 
as "lost time." 



THE FUTURE OF LODGES. 

BY GEORGE O. STATES. 

Editor Cynosure: 

With your permission I would like to 
say a few words on the future of lodges 
from a prophetic standpoint. 

I am a firm believer in the prophecies, 
that "Surely the Lord God will do noth- 
ing, but he revealth his secret unto his 
servants the prophets." It surely looks 
to me as if anything that effects God's 
people as the lodges do would be fore- 
told in the prophecies. 

Take the parable of the wheat and the - 
tares. W^e are plainly told "The harvest 
is the end of the world." The time of 
the harvest is the "Time of the end." It 
seems to me that any one who is watch- 
ing present movements can but be con- 
vinced that we are well along in that 
"time of the end" at the present time. 
"At the time of the harvest" he will send 
the reapers to gather the tares into bun- 
dles to burn them." 

Notice the thought the "bundles." 
When did the "time of the end" begin? 
Assuming that all these oathbound so- 
cieties are "bundles," have they been 
bound into bundles since the time of the 
end began, in any preceptible degree, 
more than ever before? In other words, 
is the rapid growth of these societies a 
fulfillment of prophecy? 

Another thought. There is to be a 
"time of trouble such as never was" at 
the final close of the time of the end. 
Every man's hand will be against every 
other. There will be a complete break- 
ing up of all order and a total disregard 
for all law. Anarchy will be supreme. 
Is not that correct? 

I wish to illustrate this exactly as it 
appears to me for in my lodge experience 
years ago I had a chance to see some- 
thing of how things are. We will take 
for instance, Smith, Jones, Brown, Wil- 
son and Miller. Smith is a Mason, and 
a member of the carpenter's union ; Jones 
is an Odd Fellow and also a carpenter; f 
Brown is a Knight of Pythias, and a car- 
penter ; Wilson is a member of the 
Knights of the Maccabees and a carpen- 
ter ; Miller belongs to some one of the 
many Catholic societies, and is a car- 
penter. Follow this out to a conclusion 
and what do we see? We see the Ma- 
sons in the carpenters' union all expect- 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



2! 



ing work because the business agent is 
a Mason, or because the Masons have 
the officers necessary to turn things that 
way. This is true of all the other so- 
cieties. The Catholics want the offices 
and if they have them, then they have an 
advantage, and the result is that men of 
their cult are employed. Many of the 
lodges secretly fight the Catholics. All 
such are at work laying plans to gain 
control. 

Then the employers are closely organ- 
ized, but they must watch for the inter- 
est of the Masons, because they are Ma- 
sons and in turn the Masons of the car- 
penters' organization must keep their 
employer informed of any move calcu- 
lated to advance wages, and there you 
are. 

The struggle is to get control of the 
various organizations for the benefit of 
this or that Order, and they are not very 
particular how it comes about only so 
they get control. Follow this out and 
it all runs in the same way of getting 
control. No doubt this was why W. H. 
Taft was made a Mason on sight shortly 
before he was inducted into office, sim- 
ply so as to give the Masons control. If 
President-elect Wilson has not already 
joined, no doubt there will be strong in- 
fluences brought to bear on him to be- 
come a Mason. You know it is falsely 
claimed that every president from Wash- 
ington down has been a Mason. Any of 
your readers who desire to know how 
active some have been against the lodge 
can learn by reading some of the litera- 
ture published by the National Chris- 
tian Association. 

The Bible plainly teaches us that this 
condition of official corruption will be 
in the time just before the coming of 
Christ. This will bring about the time 
when, "Judgment is turned away back- 
ward, and justice standeth afar off: for 
truth is fallen in the street, and equity 
cannot enter." 

The Psalmist tells us "Thy law is the 
truth," so we see this plainly brings 
about a time when people will have no 
respect for God's law. 

It seems to me we are right now in 
that time when "judgment is turned 
away backward." It matters little how 
good a workman may be, he must belong 
to the Orders or no work. It matters 



not to the union that his family may 
starve — "join us or starve." There is 
certainly a time of trouble before us and 
these Orders are helping to bring it 
about. 

Cedaredge, Colorado. 



IS OUR COUNTRY SAFE? 



The Relation of Secret Societies to Civil 
Government. 

In considering this point I notice first, 
that the natural effect of a secret code 
of laws, to which there is sworn obedi- 
ence, must be unfavorable to the effi- 
ciency of the civil code; for every secret 
society is another government, with 
other laws, which may or may not be 
in harmony with the laws of the land, 
but which the civil authorities are not 
permitted to inspect. 

Nearly all secret orders profess to be, 
and mainly are in harmony with civil 
law. They assure the candidate that 
there is nothing in his obligation that 
he is about to assume that shall inter- 
fere with his duty to the state. 

The Masonic lectures enjoin the can- 
didate to be a good and loyal subject to 
the government and to be obedient to its 
laws, but it is also true that it is not the 
outside instructions, but the "covenant 
that makes the Mason" ! To what he 
is sworn in the lodge rather than what 
he has been told in the lectures, will he 
be held responsible. Nor is it left to 
him to interpret its obligations ; for there 
is no such thing as private judgment 
among the privileges of the Mason, and 
the same is substantially true of all secret 
orders. . For as soon as he is permitted 
to exercise the right of conscience, and 
hold himself amenable to the higher ob- 
ligation to obey God, the covenant be- 
comes a rope of sand. An enlightened 
conscience may tell him that his oath as 
a Mason— "that the secrets of a Master 
Mason given me in charge as such, and 
I knowing them to be such, shall remain 



'22 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



as inviolable in my breast as in his own, 
murder and treason excepted," — is an 
oath that 'ought not to have been taken 
and ought not to be kept. 

A man with an enlightened conscience 
may conclude that some things done in 
the secret conclave are injurious to the 
public good and that his duty to the state 
requires them to be revealed. He may 
even think, as thousands have thought, 
that the folly and wickedness of the 
oaths and ceremonies ought to be ex- 
posed for the good of society. But his 
covenant forbids it. In the language of 
Masonic law "the covenant is irrevo- 
cable. No law of the land can effect 
it, no anathema of the church can weaken 
it. It is irrevocable." (Webbs Monitor, 
Masonic Law by Robt. Morris.) 

Suppose one is called to testify, as in 
a case in Massachusetts (1896) where 
a candidate for initiation had been se- 
verely beaten with rods, burned with a 
hot iron and otherwise maltreated. His 
oath as an Orangeman of the Royal Pur- 
ple Degree, would require him to always 
conceal and never reveal what had been 
done in the lodge, and his civil oath as a 
witness of the state, would require him 
to tell "the truth, the whole truth and 
nothing but the truth." These would be 
in direct conflict. It is not hard to say 
what a good citizen would do. The 
courts hold as did the judge in the case 
referred to, that the mandate of the court 
must be obeyed, and yet those who re- 
gard the violation of the oath of con- 
cealment as "moral perjury" would sure- 
ly not disclose the truth, if there was 
any way to avoid it. 

So too the oath of a Master Mason 
that "a Master Mason's secrets given in 
charge as such shall remain as inviolable 
in my breast as in his own," would con- 
stitute a strong reason why a witness 
would not tell the truth about a fellow 
Mason's crimes, if they were only theft, 
arson, highway robbery or adultery. 



That some good citizens have obeyed 
the mandate of the court, notwithstand- 
ing their lodge oaths, will not be denied. 
Such an instance occurred in the city 
of Hartford, Conn., in 1895. But such 
testimony was held by the lodge to be 
"grossly unmasonic conduct." Dr. Fred- 
erick C. Jackson was expelled from the 
lodge. It was in view of such facts 
that the committee appointed by the Leg- 
islature of Rhode Island to investigate 
the character of Masonic obligations re- 
ported that "these oaths are liable to an 
interpretation inconsistent with justice, 
equality and a due regard for the law," 
and which led President John Quincy 
Adams to say "that I am prepared to 
complete the demonstration before God 
and man, that the Masonic oaths, obli- 
gations and penalties can not by any 
possibility be reconciled to the laws of 
morality, of Christianity or of the land." 
(John Quincy Adams' letters on Free- 
masonry addressed to Col. Stone and 
others.) His distinguished son, the late 
Chas. Francis Adams, our Minister to 
Great Britain, held similar views. He 
says "every Mason who takes a Masonic 
oath forbids himself from divulging any 
criminal act unless it might be murder 
or treason, that may be communicated to 
him under the seal of fraternal bond, 
even though such concealment were to 
be a burden upon his conscience and its 
revealment a bounden duty to society and 
to his God. A more perfect agent for 
designing and executing conspiracies 
could scarcely have been conceived." 

The oath taken by Mormons in the se- 
cret ceremonies of the Endowment 
House were long held to be insurmount- 
able obstacles to obtaining the truth 
about polygamy. It was not until the 
U. S. Courts required that the truth 
should be revealed regardless of any 
promise of concealment, that any prog- 
ress was made in the suppression of that 
gigantic iniquity, that for twenty-five 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



23 



years defined the powers of our national 
government. 

The power of sworn secrecy is a law 
unto itself, is fully illustrated in the 

I speech of Mr. Brainard at New London, 
Conn., 1825. I do not think all Free- 
masons would make such exaggerated 
claims or if they did, would be so in- 
discrete as to proclaim them. Subse- 
quent events, however, have borne out 
its claims to an alarming degree. 

"What is Masonry now? It is powerful. 
It comprises men of all ranks, wealth, office 
and talent, in power and out of power, and 
that in almost every place where power is of 
any importance; and it composes among other 
classes of the community, to the lowest in 
large numbers, active men, united together, 
and capable of being directed by the efforts 
of others, so as to have the force of cement 
through the civilized world. They are dis- 
tributed, too, with the means of knowing each 
other, and the means of keeping secret, and 
the means of co-operating in the Desk, the 

/ Legislative Hall, on the Bench, in every gath- 
ering of business, in every party of pleasure, 
in every enterprise of government, in every 
domestic circle, in peace and in war, among 
enemies and friends, in one place as well as in 
another. So powerful indeed is it at this time 
that it fears nothing from violence, either 
public or private : for it has every means to 
learn it in season, to counteract, defeat and 
punish !" — Freemasonry Illustrated. 

. One year later the great crime as re- 
ported by a committee of the Senate of 
the State of New York, to whom it had 
been referred, and as taken from official 
records, is as follows : 

"The annals of criminal jurisprudence 
furnish no parallel in many respects to 
the case of Wm. Morgan. The majesty 
of the laws and the powers of Masonry 
I ) have been brought into conflict. What 
may be the result of* the mighty strug- 
gle none can tell but the events of the 
last two years during which the conflict 
has been maintained induce the belief 
that Masonry will be victorious " After 
describing the abduction of Morgan 



which occurred September 11, 1826, the 
report says : 

"It has been fully established by the testi- 
mony in the various trials that have been 
had, that a great number of Masons have 
been directly or indirectly concerned in the 
abduction and subsequent fate of Morgan. 
But notwithstanding the publicity of this 
transaction arising from the great number 
necessarily concerned in it — notwithstanding 
the thousands of dollars offered as rewards 
by the executive of this State, as well as the 
governor of Canada, to those who would give 
information of his fate, and the thousands 
contributed and expended by humane and pa- 
triotic citizens to ferret out the iniquity; and 
notwithstanding, too, a commissioner has been 
sent by the legislature to add his talents and 
industry to that of the courts in the country, 
still no record tells us whose hands have been 
stained with the blood of this Masonic vic- 
tim. 

"The committee assume the fact that the 
life of Morgan has been destroyed; they are 
compelled to do so from the irresistible weight 
of circumstances tending to fortify that con- 
viction." 

How powerful has been this principle of 
despotic authority, and how it has enabled 
Freemasonry to mass its forces and success- 
fully defy all the powers of the State, is seen 
in the report of the Hon. John C. Spencer, 
afterwards Secretary of War, who was for 
five years the appointed agent of the State of 
New York, to investigate the facts of, and 
bring to justice the men engaged in the mur- 
der of Morgan. He reported that "the sword 
of justice had fallen pointless and blunted at 
the feet of Masonry." It was this that led 
Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, Francis 
Granger and many others to sign a declara- 
tion, that in their opinion Freemasonry "de- 
feats the administration of justice and tram- 
ples on every government it can not control." 
It was this that led the Hon. Wm. Wirt, after 
having had some experience in the lodge, and 
having been, during twelve consecutive years, 
Attorney General of the United States, to 
declare, that "if this be Masonry, as accord- 
ing to the uncontradicted evidence it seems to 
be, I have no hesitation in saying that I con- 
sider it at war with the fundamental princi- 
ple- of the social compact, as treason against 
society, and a wicked conspiracy against the 
laws of God and man, zvhich ought to be put 
dozen." (Wirt's letter of acceptance. 1832.") 

Nor should it be forgotten that in view 



24 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



of these events there was a great popu- 
lar reaction against Freemasonry. Of 
the 50,000 Masons in the North, at least 
45,000 left the lodge, never to meet in- 
side its tyled doors, and large numbers 
of christian men made public denuncia- 
tion of their Masonic obligations. On 
the 4th of July, T828, 101 Freemasons, 
at Le Roy, N. Y., united in a declara- 
tion that the revelations of Wm. Morgan 
were true and that the covenants of Ma- 
sonry were such that their duty to God 
and man required their repudiation. The 
Legislatures of several states undertook 
the investigation of its mysteries and 
passed laws intended to secure the sup- 
pression of the order. Anti-Masonic 
Governors were elected in the states of 
Xew York, Pennsylvania and Vermont 



Mtm of ®ux W&axk 

N. C. A. Annual Meeting. 
The Annual Meeting of the National 
Christian Association will be held at 
10 o'clock, Friday, June 6th, 1919, as 
per vote of Beard of Directors, at the 
Mennonite Church, 1907 South Union 
avenue, Chicago. 

Besides the election of officers, re- 
ports will be given and important busi- 
ness transacted. 

JOHN F. HEEMSTRA, 

President. 
FAITH H. PETERSON, 

Recording Secretary. 

President Blanchard spent two weeks 
last month in teaching the Bible at a 
Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 
There were delegates from various states 
to whom he was able to bear a faithful 
testimony as to secret society influence 
on character and the church. 



Mr. Herman Newmark, of Kobe, 
Japan, whose conversion and renuncia- 
tion of Masonry was an important con- 
tribution in the Cynosure of November, 
1916, is now visiting in this country. We 
enjoyed a call from him at the Cynosure 



office last month. He gave an account to 
the students in Wheaton College on 
April 22nd of his experiences as a Jew 
who became a Mason, and later a Chris- 
tian which led him to renounce his lodge 
fellowship and to become an evangelist^ / 
to his people. ( 



It was a great pleasure last .month to 
greet Rev. C. H. Mason of Memphis, 
Tennessee, General Overseer of the 
Church of God in Christ, and his son- 
in-law, Elder W. M. Roberts, who is 
carrying on- a Mission in this city. The 
church membership is composed of col- 
ored brothers and sisters and is anti-se- 
cret as are all of the churches of that 
denomination. With them came our Mrs. 
Lizzie Woods Roberson, whom we are 
glad to know is to be with us at our 
annual meeting this year. 



The expenses of the Conference and 
Annual Meeting to be held on June 5th 
and 6th in the Mennonite Church, 1907 
South Union avenue, Chicago, will be 
considerable. Please forward your con- 
tributions to our Treasurer, 850 W. Mad- f 
ison street, Chicago. 



Rev. Clarence Weston of Aurora, 
Nebr., writes: 

I like to eet the preachers to reading 
N. C. A. books ; one man refused to 
r^ad them : he said. "If I didn't know 
about the lodees I will not have to preach 
about them ;" he went on the supposi- 
tion that "where ignorance is bliss 'tis 
folly to be wise," but it looked to me 
like cowardice or something worse. 

Well the Alma work was not all in 
vain: T hear from good' authority that 
Rev. Mr. Beebe has not only renounced 
the lodees but is p reaching against them ! 
He is talented and would make a fine 
lecturer for the N. C. A. I believe. I 
wrote to him the other day and told him 
T was glad he had "come back home." 
He was in touch with the Free Methodist 
church years ago, in fact I think he was 
converted through the instrumentalitv of 
that church and years ago was against the 
lodge, so you see he has come back home 
in a' sense at least. I have heard that 
he has done some repenting with tears. 
Thank God. Thank you for the 
Cynosure. 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



25 



GOOD WORK IN IOWA. 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, So. 
Dak., writes. I asked Classis "Orange 
City." Orange City, Iowa, for leave to 
talk. It was kindly granted, although 
many important things were waiting. My 
talk went easy for me, and the result, 
before I got through, was many sub- 
scriptions and a general awakening of all 
present on the lodge question. 

Then the thought struck me to take 
another week's time and attend the 
"Sioux Center" Classis, convening at 
Hull, Iowa. I worked it the same way 
there, with no less spiritual success, 
many Cynosure subscriptions and $8.00 
in cash for the N. C. Ass n. Here also 
the speech was a timely one, as many 
of the churches of last named Classis had 
not taken a collection, recently, for N. 
C. A. I doubt not that some will now 
take a collection for the first time for 
you. I know many awoke to the cause, 
for the first time in their life. I could 
see it in their faces, they told me, they 
thanked me for what I had said.. 

Just think of all these seventy-eight 
Cynosures going to the homes of all 
these delegates in Iowa, No. Dak., So. 
Dak., Minn., even Neb., and Canada. 

I think at least some of our ministers 
will feel now, that they could do more 
for this great cause, i. e., show to all 
unprejudiced men, that the "Secret Em- 
pire" is not necessary for any communi- 
ty and very dangerous to the holy church 
of our Lord. 

I do pray that our leaders may awaken 
to the necessity of working also in this 
line of protesting against the evils of 
secrecy, because the Savior, who bought 
us with a very precious price, said : "In 
secret I have said nothing." 



ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 

Dear Cynosure: 

The other evening I was participating 
in the "bornin' " of our local Community 
Council. Among' those who spoke on 
this occasion was one of our most prom- 
inent fruit men. He is also well up 
among the Odd- Fellows. A man who 
has made quite a reputation as a "driver" 
during the numerous calls for help, 
caused by the war conditions. 

The writer was well up in "the amen 
corner." On my right sat an Elder, 



who is a 33 Mason. I am his Pastor. 
I wish to quote this much from the re- 
marks of the speaker referred to above : 

"Secret societies- have had their day; 
they are hopelessly behind the times. 
We must have an' organization embrac- 
ing all our people, where our community 
problems may be considered and solved. 
I am in favor of asking the Odd-Fellows 
to donate this hall to the new society." 

An encouraging sign ! The sentiment 
was heartily applauded. It deserved to 
be. This New Era we are hearing so 
much about, should be a lodgeless, as 
well as a saloonless era. 



A TENNESSEE WORK. 
Evangelist Charles B. Byer, of Knox- 
ville, Tennessee, writes : "Being en- 
gaged in mission work in this city since 
February, 1918, we find secret societies 
(of which there are many here) a gre*it 
hindrance to the work. While handling 
out tracts on secret societies some time 
ago to employes of a certain mill, who 
were going from work, a group of men 
formed nearby. After reading some of 
the tracts, one of them came to us and 
said, "You best stop giving these out or 
you will be arrested." Soon another 
came and asked for our address and for 
more of the tracts, and where we got 
them. On leaving us he said,. "Some one 
will have to pay for this." They then 
left us and we continued to hand out the 
tracts. Since then we have not heard 
from, or seen any of them. The words 
of the Apostle came to me Acts 18:9, 
10: "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold 
not thy peace: for I am with thee," etc. 
Praise his holy name. We find very few 
in this city who know anything of the 
Cynosure. We shall endeavor to secure 
subscribers for it. 



A WORD OF CHEER, 

By S. C. Kimball. 
I have been a reader of the Cynosure 
almost from its first issue and I think it 
shines brighter and brighter. I had the 
honor and pleasure of being a co-worker 
with Jonathan Blanchard who founded 
the Cynosure, and who was a friend and 
supporter of Charles G. Finney. I en- 
joyed the memorable opportunity of 
hearing the testimony of Samuel D. 
Greene, who belonged to the same lodge 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



with William Morgan whom the Free- 
masons murdered for publishing their 
so-called secrets. I had the pleasure of 
assisting brave and honest Edmond Ro- 
nayne to work the Masonic degrees in 
Worcester and Boston. Massachusetts. I 
witnessed from the platform the shame- 
•ful Masonic riot which bore complete 
witness to the truth of Mr. Ronayne's 
work. I never heard Dr. Charles A. 
Blanchard speak better than on that oc- 
casion. Lion-hearted David McFall 
was there. I was a comrade of Hon. 
John A. Conant, "an Israelite in whom 
was no guile," and of Rev. D. P. Rath- 
bone, who carried to his grave the scars 
inflicted, on his body by his Masonic 
"brethren" because he»publicly confessed 
his Masonic lodge wickedness. In my 
humble way, I held up the hands of Elder 
J. Franklin Browne, and of Rev. Joseph 
Bsown who publicly and solemnly af- 
firmed that the blessed Holy Spirit com- 
manded him to leave the Masonic lodge ! 
and of Rev. Mr. Bowler, who affirmed 
that when on his knees in his room of 
prayer to fully consecrate himself to God 
for better Christian work, the Lord said 
to him : "Come out of your secret 
lodges." He obeyed the divine admoni- 
tion and published his confession in his 
church paper. Time fails me to men- 
tion Rev. Isaac Hyatt, Simon Rowe, 
Benjamin M. Mason, Ezra T. Mclntire, 
Elder James G. Smith and a host of 
others who joyfully suffered loss for 
the sake of right, and so rest from 
their labors. It is reported that St. 
John often said, "Little children love 
one another." Those who suffer loss to- 
gether in a good cause do not find it hard 
to love one another. Young men of this 
new generation who are called to de- 
fend unpopular reforms, remember that 
He who called you said, "Ye shall re- 
ceive an hundred fold in this life, with 
persecution." Do not tremble at the 
last two words. Why sounds the flail 
on the thrashing floor? Is it not to 
separate the chaff from the wheat? Why 
the intense heat of the refiner's fire? Is 
it not to separate the dross from the 
gold? Glory to God in the highest! 
Have ye never read how Stephen's face 
did shine and how he saw the heavens 
opened and Jesus at the right hand of 
God? I would rather be a doorkeeper 



in the house of the Lord than to dwell 
in tlje tents of wickedness." 
New Market, New Hampshire. 



We thank Brother Kimball for the 
above letter ! It is a word from one who 
helped start the good work of the Na- 
tional Christian Association some fifty 
years ago. He is now in his eighty- 
first year. We are confident that every 
Cynosure reader is a well wisher of 
Brother Kimball and will pray God's 
continued mercy to him. — Editor. 



MANY WORKERS. 
Rev. Otto Hattstaedt, Ashland, Wis- 
consin, writes: "I have a number of 
copies of the Christian Cynosure 
which have more than once stood me in 
good stead." He sends for more and 
needed ammunition. 



A Baptist minister in New York state 
gives the following testimony in a re- 
cent letter: "Secret societies, Masonry 
in particular have been the curse of the 
church, that I am now pastor of, for 
twenty years. Since coming upon the 
field I have been pronounced in my stand 
against them. The result is, the so-called 
"Supreme Ruler" of the local lodge, and 
a member of my church has departed to 
another church where the pastor is a 
Mason. * * * The other churches 
have been stirred up by the messages 
God has given through me, relative to 
secretism. We do not mind the de- 
parture of those who have left the church 
but we desire to strike more earnestly 
while the iron is hot." He sends for 
tracts. 



A wise decision is recorded in the fol- 
lowing taken from a recent letter : "My 
mother and father do not want me to 
take your magazine. They think it is not 
necessary. They do not believe in lodges 
but I feel that everybody who is op- 
posed to secret societies should do all 
they can to help testify against them. I 
am going to take the Cynosure as long 
as I have a dollar to send. You have 
my prayers continually." 



Rev. Malt Thompson oi Brilliant, Ala- 
bama, writes : "I am glad I learned of 
the National Christian Association. May 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



27 



the Lord bless you all in your efforts to 
spread light upon deluded souls." He 
sends for light to enlighten others. 



H. F. Stubbs, Whittier, California, 
writes : "I am making good use of the 
Cynosure after reading it. I drop 'it 
into the Reading Box put up in the Pa- 
cific Electric Railroad Depot here. Some 
persons are getting them to read and I 
hope it will bring good results. May 
God bless your noble work." 



Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, of Volga, 
South Dakota, wrote recently, 'The 
April Cynosure is fine again. But 
... I never had a copy yet that was 
not very interesting, indeed. You are 
doing much more good than you will 
ever know until you get to Heaven. 
Ever discouraged? Mind what I told 
you, brother!" We owe much to this 
brother. He is a daily help. 

One of our good friends in the north- 
west corner of the United States, a Mrs. 
Martha Nicoll, writes, "Here is an extra 
dollar for the work. I can't afford to 
be without the information I get from 
the Cynosure." 



R. A. McCoy, Princeton, Indiana, 
writes, ''I had a chance to testify for 
Jesus and the open life in the Hos- 
pital and I did. I gave an M. E. Pas- 
tor two Cynosures and talked to him. 
He is a Mason. I pleaded with him for 
the honor of our risen Lord to come out 
and be separate. I also spoke to two 
other Methodist ministers about secrecy. 
Brother, the older I grow the more I 
can see of the sinfulness of secrecy. I 
talked salvation to the nurses. I can say 
I have been made a better man by my 
affliction. May God bless and keep you 
and make your work to prosper." 

Brother McCoy was thrown from a 
wagon and severely injured and has been 
obliged to lay on his back for thirty-five 
days. We are very thankful that he is 
able to be up again. The world has too 
few men as faithful and fearless as our 
brother. 



He who passes by an opportunity to 
do good in order to find a better one 
will search in vain. 



WINGED WORDS. 
Like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver. 
Dear Brother Phillips : 

I am going to tell you of a conversa- 
tion I had at one time in this place with 
a Methodist Episcopal minister. He 
called at our house and inquired my 
church relation, etc. I told him I was 
a member of the Free Methodist church, 
but had occasionally heard him preach 
and enjoyed his sermons. He was a 
good speaker. 

I asked him if he was a Freemason. 
He replied, "I will not lie, I am. I will 
tell you sister why I joined them. I 
was in hopes to do good to a certain 
class of men that I could not reach in 
the church." But he added, "I do not 
know as I have accomplished my purpose 
and I have sometimes felt that I was 
on the enemy's ground. I seldom attend 
their meetings." 

He admitted that he had kept his dues 
paid. I said to him, "Brother, I am so 
sorry to know this. I want to have 
confidence in you as a Christian minister. 
I have heard you emphatically preach 
against dancing, card playing, theatre go- 
ing, Sabbath desecration, profanity, etc., 
which is certainly right to do, but the 
ambassador of Christ should not shun to 
declare the whole council of God. And 
these sins you have mentioned are slight 
offenses in the sight of the Almighty in 
comparison with the sacreligious mocke- 
ries and wicked oaths that a Freemason 
must consent to." I said, "Brother you 
are too smart and enlightened a man 
not to know this is truth. I shall earn- 
estly hope and pray that you will obey 
your convictions of right and 'come 
out from among them.' ' I know it 
means much for a minister in the M. E. 
Conference to do this but it means much 
more not to do it. The great Judgment 
Day is coming and "who shall be able 
to stand in His holy place? He that 
hath clean hands and a pure heart who 
hath not lifted up his soul to vanity nor 
sworn deceitfully." 

He did not get angry, as most Masons 
do, when I told him the Truth, but 
looked more like weeping and I am not 
sure but that I shed tears after he bid 
me good day. 

It is sad to see good men of large 
capability and talent representing that 



28 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



wicked institutions. I believe there are 
many in the lodge who are, at heart, 
convinced that it is a big swindle and 
that they should come out of it, but 
have not the moral courage to take their 
stand. 

We are thankful for those who have 
the victory and are saying: "Now the 
weak impulses and the blind desire, give 
way at last to the all conquering will. 
The soul has won its freedom, born of 
fire ; and a new courage that shall never 
tire." 

We are endeavoring by His grace in 
our little corner to help destroy the 
works of darkness and build up the 
kingdom of Light. 

In His dear name, 

Mrs. Ella Crooks, 
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard. 
Once more I send my report from 
Columbus, Ohio's capital city. Since my 
first acquaintance with this city, thirty- 
three years ago, several of the Mission 
Churches of those interested in N. C. A 
work have developed into strong self- 
supporting organizations in turn to aid 
new missions. Capital University has 
been educating its Lutheran ministry 
making that church a great power in 
giving light on the lodge question. I 
am told that much interest in this ques- 
tion has recently been awakened by a 
proposal of other Lutheran bodies to co- 
operate in general church work. The 
teaching of some regarding the lodges 
has been the chief barrier to united work. 
May God hasten the day when all Chris- 
tians shall see the facts and act as Chris- 
tians should in relation to lodge and all 
anti-Christian organizations. The Luth- 
eran pastors here are standing by the 
Cynosure work. Yesterday, April 13th, 
I spoke in the Highland Avenue Friends 
Church in the morning and the Free 
Methodist Church in the evening. Kind- 
ly commendations were given and new 
Cynosure readers secured. I am in- 
cidentally catching quite a bit of infor- 
mation regarding lodge doings by the 
conversations of lodge people in my hear- 
ing. While awaiting a train at New 
Concord, Ohio, I saw a young man walk- 
ing back and forth on the railroad ties 



evidently counting them. Another 
young man made some inquiry, to which 
he replied that they were having initia- 
tions in the Greek Letter Fraternity and 
that the ties would be counted several 
times on the following evening. "I tell 
you its mysteries are deep" he said. "It 
will take an hour and a half tonight and 
an hour and a half tomorrow night !•' 
He walked away with his head high in 
the air as though he thought himself 
wiser than Solomon. He was evidently 
making the impression desired on the 
uninitiated young man. It will not be 
surprising if he is soon found walking 
the ties seeking the "deep mysteries" 
for as Barnum said "Americans do like 
to be humbugged." In a barber shop in 
this city a "Professor" of a business col- 
lege was very much excited in relating 
the doings of a Lodge. (I learned later 
from the barber it was the K. of P.'s). 
He spoke of the "great eats" and how 
the room was cleared for the great dance 
that followed. He said the Delaware 
team was soon to come, and show them 
the "old work." They were to put 
through some "great stunts-." He pre- 
dicted that one would have to go early 
if he got a seat, and that this lodge was 
likely to be one of the largest in the 
city. From the conversation I conclud- 
ed that the barbers who were members 
with the "professor" were looking with 
keen interest to the coming event. So 
the traps are being set, and many souls 
are being destroyed by Satan's devices. 
While in New Jersey last month I ad- 
dressed audiences gathered in five 
Christian Reformed Churches, as fol- 
lows : Prospect Street, Passaic, Union 
Meeting in the first, also Madison Ave., 
Paterson, Lodi, and Midland Park. 
Weather conditions were unfavorable 
for the last two, but all contributed to 
the Cause. The well known kindness 
of these friends was well sustained, in 
this eiTort. My meeting with our friends 
of the Free Gospel Church, Corona, 
Long Island, N. Y., was cheering as al- 
ways. The first Sabbath of this month 
was spent with friends of the Free Meth- 
odist Church, Alexandria, Virginia. The 
new pastor is doing: telling work at that 
place. At Zanesville, Ohio, I was given 
a kindly hearing and good support in 
connection with the Mutual Benefit So- 



May. 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



29 



ciety of Trinity Lutheran Church. A 
general discussion brought out many im- 
portant anti-lodge truths. Among those 
whom we miss because called to the 
higher life during the year I should men- 
tion Dr. Stellhorn, Senior Professor in 
Capitol University. He wrote and 
spoke much in opposition to the lodges ; 
\Ym. Koch, a seceded Odd-Fellow, and 
a faithful member of Trinity Lutheran 
Church, Zanesville, Ohio; and Rev. Mr. 
Bachman, pastor of an Ohio Synod 
Lutheran Church, Youngstown, Ohio. 
Pastor Bachman made a very telling ad- 
dress in opposition to the lodge at an 
Ohio State Convention held in Colum- 
biana a few years ago. 

Every year we miss some of those who 
have stood by our side in the conflict. 
New workers are found and the Cause 
moves on. I am making my usual west- 
ward trip at this season of the year, and 
hope to report more progress later. 



"LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER." 

Omaha, Nebraska, April ioth, 19 19, 
Dear Cynosure: 

This writing finds me again in Omaha, 
Nebraska. I had good meetings at Buf- 
falo, New York, and though the weather 
was very unfavorable, yet the attendance 
was large and many souls were saved. 
I took the Word of God and by it con- 
demned all sin. Jesus never asks us to 
do things which we cannot do, but the 
trouble is we will not do as he bids us. 
What need is there for the preacher and 
the church if we insist on living our own 
way. which is to live in sin? Jesus is 
"the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
the sin of the world!'' (John 1:29). 
Jesus Christ came to save his people from 
sin. It is a pity and a shame that some 
of our best preachers in this country are 
in lodge bondage. If they were free 
from its coils they could become a 
mighty power in true service to Christ. 
Niagara — Morgan's Burial Place, 

While in the East I visited Niagara 
Falls and also travelled about twenty- 
one miles down the Niagara River. Tt 
was a delightful trip but I could not 
help but think of Capt. William Mor- 
gan, who was thrown into this beautiful 
river by the Freemasons, just where the 
river enters into Lake Ontario. And I 
thought of the three out of the eight 



men who had drawn slips of paper to 
decide who was to murder him. I am 
sure those three men who drew the fate- 
ful slips were indeed sorry. I do not 
wonder that Henry L. Valance confessed, 
— he was the man who pushed Capt. 
Morgan into the river after weights had 
been put upon him so that his body 
should not rise again — for the weight of 
guilt upon his conscience must have been 
very heavy. Oh God, give us more brave 
Baptist ministers like Elder J. G. Stearns,, 
whose opposition to Masonry in this 
country preceded even that of Capt. 
Morgan's. 

My people in the South want to serve 
God and many go to the northern and 
eastern states to keep from being lynched 
and burned at the stake, but they do not 
always obey God for they have learned 
of the white man's idol — the god of 
secrecy. That is the god which does so 
much harm. He is the God of the Klu 
Klux Klan, White Caps, Night Riders, 
Red Shirts, Masons, Odd-Fellows. 
Knights of Columbus, and all secret so- 
cieties. All men in secret societies do not 
wish to kill others but they are sworn to 
obey and must live up to their obliga 
tions. But we must not depend upon 
men, for God is our only Refuge. I re- 
cently read a clipping from the Chicago 
Defender in which it was stated that 
the negro had learned Freemasonry and 
Odd-Fellowship from the white man, and 
if they organized another Klu Klux Klan 
the negro would learn that also. What 
God bids us do, is to "follow peace with 
men, and holiness, without which no 
man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14), 
for "he that killeth with the sword must 
be killed with the sword" (Rev. 13:10). 
Let us do like Paul urges in 2 Cor. 6:14- 
18, especially verse 17 in which he says: 
"Come out from among them." If we 
are to have peace, the ministers of to- 
day must proclaim and preach it (Rom. 
10:14). 

Whites and Blacks Are Alike. 

The people of Buffalo were surprised 
to know that seventeen denominations 
are opposed to Masonry and other se- 
cret societies. I distributed tracts which 
set men and women to thinking on the 
subject. You never can help anyone if 
you are not able to get them to person- 
ally think about the matter. One day 



30 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



May, 1919. 



I had occasion to go into a store in 
Buffalo and while there I began to con- 
verse with the colored woman who kept 
the store. I asked her if she was a 
Christian 'and she answered: "Well, I 
have been converted." And to what 
church do you belong, I asked. "Why, 
none. There is no need for me to join 
a church for the people in the church 
drink beer, have card parties, and do 
more devilment than I would ever do." 
"The preacher of this fine big brick 
church near here," she said, "asked me to 
join his church and I asked him what 
for? I know you drink beer and the 
most of your members are wicked too !" I 
said to her, dear lady, not all people 
have bowed their knee to Baal, and I 
also told her that some day she would 
have to given an account to God for her 
deeds. And when I told her how Jesus 
loves her. it was not long before she 
acknowledged she was wrong in believ- 
ing that everybody in the church is a 
hypocrite. "But" she said, "that 
preacher was sure one" and I said, That 
may be sister, but there are many God 
sent, spirit filled preachers in Buffalo, so 
don't you lose your soul looking at the 
other fellow who is living his own way. 
This woman was surprised when I told 
her I loved the South for she said "they 
kill so many of our people down there 
I should think you would not like it 
for that reason." Well, there are many 
good white people in the South as well 
as wicked ones and the same is true of 
the colored folks. If the white preachers 
would preach the pure Gospel and con- 
demn all this lynching and burning to the 
stake, and turn out of the church all 
those who participated in such terrible 
acts and tell the offenders that God will 
send a curse upon them and their fam- 
ilies, this innocent bloodshed would soon 
cease. 

A Remarkable Incident. 
I left Buffalo for Cleveland, Ohio, 
where I stopped for ten days and held 
meetings and distributed tracts. I hit 
the lodge evil hard in this sinful city. 
Many of our people have come to this 
town from the South. The lady with 
whom I was living said, "Sister Rober- 
son, my mother died when I was a child 
and my father who was a high Mason 
would spend a good deal of his money 



keeping up his different societies. We 
lived in Virginia at the time and I be- 
ing the eldest child kept house for my 
father. One day when we children were 
all alone at home a big old man came 
rushing up to our house and wanted me 
to let him in. I told him my father ( 
was not at home and we girls would not 
let a stranger into the house.-* He be- 
came very angry and went off some 
where and hid himself until father 
came home. Then he came back and 
told my father that he was a Mason and 
had come to 'your house and your 
children would not let me in and I will 
report you to the Grand Lodge.' This 
frightened my old father and he gave me 
the worst whipping I have ever had and 
just because I would not let that old 
man hide in our house. It was not 
long before we overheard a conversa- 
tion between my father and this man. 
He was a Mason and had killed a man 
in Nashville, Tennessee, and then had 
come all the way to Virginia where he 
expected the lodgemen to get together 
and give him some money to send him 
on. My father hid him and after getting 
all the lodge brothers together and giv- 
ing the murderer the money they had 
collected, they sent him on his way. I 
have never had any use for secret so- 
cieties since then. Xo man can be a 
real Christian and help others to escape 
punishment from the law of the land 
when they have committed a crime." 

Yes, I said, the country is bound to 
suffer from the evils resulting from se- 
crecy, and when men and women and 
children believe it is all right to hold 
membership in such societies. 

Many eyes were opened to the truth in 
Cleveland. One man said to me, "Sister, 
do you expect to hold meetings in Berne, 
Indiana?" Yes, I answered. If the 
Lord* gives me an opening there I will 
surely go. He then said, "If you do go 
there the lodgemen may try to kill you." ' 
Well, I answered, they might kill me in 
Detroit, Michigan, where I expect to go / 
very soon. Lodges are the same every- * 
where and every man and woman who 
dares to tell of the sin of secret so- 
cieties, of whiskey, of whoredom, and 
other evils, is in danger of persecution. 

I stopped in Detroit for two nights 
and then came on to Chicago, the home 



May, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



31 



of the Cynosure. I visited the office 
of the N. C. A. and Secretary W. I. Phil- 
lips, who is the very picture of health. 
I was indeed glad to see him and we 
talked and prayed together about the 
| work of the Association. 

Yours for the Lord's work, 

Lizzie Roberson. 



TESTIMONY IN DELAWARE. 

Mr. J. E. Hill of Wilmington, Del., 
writes : I was in a meeting recently 
and said a few words about Secret Socie- 
ties. One of the church members said 
the speaker was a liar. He did not say 
this publicly or to me, I am sorry to say, 
because I am sure with the help of God 
and the blessed Book I would have made 
him assume a very uncomfortable part 
of the program for the remainder of the 
evening. I spoke to a brother recently 
who is a minister and one of the most 
fearless I have met, and preaches a Holi- 
ness Gospel, is a Mason but don't attend, 
but he said : "The lodge is doing a work 
the church is not doing, Jas. i \2y says : 
'Pure religion and undefined before God 
and the Father is this, To visit the father- 
less and widows in their affliction and 
keep himself unspotted from the 
world'." 

Now if Masonry is doing this and the 
churches not, why not quit the church 
and join the lodge? Well praise God I 
believe the contrary to be true, but the 
church is handicapped by an army of 
unspiritual members.- I can count at least 
fifty that I have met just the few months 
that I have been here, and without ex- 
aggeration, I don't believe if all the 
spiritual dynamite behind the fifty testi- 
monies could be collected and exploded 
in one meeting anywhere in this im- 
moral vineyard that it would cause his 
majesty the devil one moment's loss of 
sleep. Then I have met here some of 
the chosen of God, but the tidal wave of 
wickedness seems to be rolling higher. 
What a scene to -witness that army of 
derelicts emerging from that alcoholic 
hell of horrors after July ist next, where 
I spent fifteen of the best years of my 
life, but now saved by the power of 
God, 16 years, n months and 5 days ago 
today, March 5, 1919. Saved from the 
slavery of rum and drugs and tobacco, 
and best of all saved from the diabolical 



hell-born Christ-denying, church-destroy- 
ing, spirit defying, idolatrous system of 
so-called secrecy, praise God. 

The writer is puzzled to know how 
Masony can call itself religious while the 
church element in the lodge from pastor 
to layman will suppress the testimony if 
possible of any one who dare raise his 
voice against the lodge no matter how im- 
portant his message. When I asked 
one beloved brother to explain why this 
was true, he said the lodge member does 
not like to be held up as a hypocrite. 
Now Brother Phillips you are a Bible 
student ; can you tell me one passage of 
Scripture that would justify any Chris- 
tion man or woman to place himself in 
a position with an individual or organ- 
ization that would thus place him on 
the defensive? 

One more thought puzzles me, "How 
could our God, the embodiment of all 
wisdom, establish his church, then es- 
tablish the lodge as a counter attraction 
to draw men away from his church?" 
Of course, He could not. Why cannot 
the Masonic heads of our churches see 
they, are losing out to this arch enemy? 
When we hear one real live wire, red-hot, 
spirit-filled testimony, from a lodge mem- 
ber, we hear at least ten that have the 
empty hollow sound of a Filipino Bam- 
boo Cannon. May God bless you in 
your great work. 



Avoid diligently those false and de- 
ceptive thoughts which say, "Wait a 
little, and I will pray an hour hence." 



Every-day work requires every-day 
grace, and every-day grace requires 
every-day asking. 



Every to-morrow r has two handles ; 
we can take hold of the handle of anx- 
iety or the handle of faith. 



The devil is close by when the Chris- 
tian worries about things he can't help. 



You keep the Sabbath in imitation of 
God's rest. Do, by all manner of means, 
and keep also the rest of the week in 
imitation of God's work. 



If you are afraid in the dark, do more 
praying when the sun is shining. 



MODERN PROPHETS of BAAL 

OR 

WATCHMEN on ZION'S WALLS 

By President C. A. Blanchard. 

This is a tract especially intended for ministers. The term Baalism in referring to 
Masonry is used figuratively. " If we say Lord to any one who is not God, then we 
are worshipers of Baal and if we, who are religious teachers, call any one Lord 
except the true God, then we are prophets of Baal." This tract, in addition to setting 
forth the real relation of Masonic ministers to a heathen system, also gives the reasons 
why Christian preachers become prophets of Baal. 

In the appendix there is a chapter on Masonic Theology, taken from Mackey's "Masonic 
Ritualist", the author being the well known Past General Grand High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States. There is also A Word to Bible Students, by Dean 
J. M. Gray, D. D., of the Moody Bible Institute, and there is a page of Bible quotations 
which are important in this connection. 

Thirty-two pages; Single copies three cents, per hundred, $2.00 postpaid. 

Address 

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago Ills. 



Knights of Columbus 

ILLUSTRATED 

A COMPLETE RITUAL AND HISTORY OF THE FIRST 
THREE DEGREES, INCLUDING ALL SECRET 
"WORK", FULLY ILLUSTRATED BY A FORMER 
MEMBER OF THE ORDER. 

This work gives the proper position of each officer during the 
meetings, the proper manner of conducting the business of 
the Knights of Columbus, order of opening and closing 
of the Lodge, dress of candidates, ceremony of initiation; giving 
the signs, grips, pass words, etc. Convenient pocket size. 

Paper Covers $ .75 ( 

Cloth - 1.00 

National Christian Association 

850 W. Madison Street CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 




HE very fact that so much in politics 
is done in the dark, behind closed 
doors, promotes suspicion. Everybody 
knows that corruption thrives in secret places, 
and we believe it a fair presumption that 
secrecy means impropriety. * * * You know 
there is temptation in loneliness and secrecy. 
We are never so proper in our conduct as 
when everybody can look and see exactly what 
we are doing. * * * The best thing that you 
can do with anything that is crooked is to lift 
it up where people can see that it is crooked, 
and then it will either straighten itself out or 
disappear." — From ''The New Freedom," by 
President Woodrozv Wilson, 




OFFICIAL ORGAN* NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJTOCIATION 
10 CENTJ" A COPY EJTABLUHED 1868 1.00 A YEAR 



ufl^JtefliPJ 



Vol. LII, No. 2 



CHICAGO 



JUNE 1919 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 
850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 
Managing Editor. . 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we will 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
lit the Po3t Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
Mar^a 3, 1879. 



Southern Agent's Report, Rev. F. J. 

Davidson '•■•-. 59 

Work in Texas, Mrs. Hannah Chandler. 60 
Gen. Wood Initiated Into Mystic Shrine 60 

"Lizzie Woods" Letter 60 

"I Was a Thirty-second Degree Mason" 61 

Extremely Amusing. 62 

Bartender's Union Opened by Prayer... 63 

K. of C. Tumulty's Power ' . . . 63 

Kind Words from Friends 63 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra ; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

CONTENTS M - p - F - Doermann > Th ° mas c. mc- 

Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 

T . , , ,, ,. „„ P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 

The Annual Meeting do J J 

Is President Wilson a Mason? 35 George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 

The American Legion— Chicago Tribune.. 36 W Bond> j H Hoekstra and H. J, 

Masonic Regeneration — Kansas City Free- . 

mason * 37 Kuiper. 

Negro Catholics and the K. of C.—Fort- 

nightly Review 37 

"Feared the Lord and Served Idols," bv LECTURERS. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard 38 

The Proposed World Church Union-Is It Those desiring lectures or addresses 

of God or Man? by Dr. James M. Gray 40 may write to any of the spe akers named 
Lodgism and the Incompatibles, by Rev. M. 

L. Wagner, D. D 43 below : 

Testimonies of Evangelists. . . . : 48 Rey w R Stoddard g Fourtee nth 

Illinois Grand Lodge, from Ronayne s ° 

Reminiscences" 49 St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 

The ex-Kaiser and President Wilson, bv 
Dr. Louis Hacault .51 Rev. Mead A. Kelsey, 221 College 

Camel Gets Name-Baptismal Service by Ave Richmond, Ind. 

-\J asons — Indiana Tribune 54 

Negro Lodge Shooting - Fest — Evening Rev. F. T. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 

World-Herald 55 

Miscellaneous Testimonies 55 New Orleans, L?., 

News of Our Work: Prof. Moses H. Clemens, Box 96. 

The Advance of Reform, by Chefith.... 56 

Annual Meeting Letters 56 Ubee, Ind. .* "' 

Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W r . B. 
Stoddard " 58 Rev. C. G. Fait, Ellendale, N. D 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
aaved. 
, —Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: 1 spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have 1 
said nothing. 
—John 18:20 



We regret the necessity of having our 
readers wait until the July number of 
the Cynosure for a report of the An- 
nual Meeting and Conference. The fol- 
lowing from the program shows that it 
will be worth while to those who may 
be able to be present. The prospects are 
for a good attendance. 

There will be an Address of Wel- 
come, by Rev. A. H. Leaman, Pastor 
of the Mennonite Church, Chicago, and 
Mrs. "Lizzie Woods" Roberson will give 
the Response. Rev. A. B. Bowman, 
Gen'l Sec'y of the General United Breth- 
ren Christian Endeavor Society, will 
speak on "The Church Behind the Re- 
form" and we also expect an address, 
"Christianity Versus Secret Societies," 
from Rev. George E. Cooprider, Pas- 
tor of the Christian Advent Church. 
Mendota, Illinois. Mrs. M. A. Durham, 
an Evangelist from Leavenworth, Kan- 
sas, will speak on "The Relation of Se- 
cret vSocieties to the Work of Evan- 
gelists." On Friday evening we expect 
to hear from Rev. Thos. A. Maxwell, an 
Evangelist from Lincoln, Nebraska, on 
"The New Day," and also from Rev. P. 
B. Fitzwater, D.D., of the Moody Bible 
Institute, Chicago, on "The Attitude of 
a Christian Towards Secret Societies." 

During the afternoon session on Fri- 
day, June 6th, there will be opportunity 
for free parliament five-minute ad- 
dresses and we hope to hear from many. 



THE COST OF PLEASURE. 

Upon the Valley's lap 

The dewy morning throws 

A thousand pearly drops 
To wake a single rose. 

So, often in the course 

Of life's few fleeting years, 

A single pleasure costs 
A soul a thousand tears. 

F. W. ROC'RDILLON. 



IS PRESIDENT WILSON A MASON? 

We published an article from the 
Washington Evening Star in our last- 
number which stated that President Wil- 
son was a member of the Grand Lodge 
of the Orient. That President Wilson 
would take time to become a member of 
the Grand Orient while immersed in the 
duties of the Peace negotiations and for- 
mation of the League of Nations — that 
he would take time to become a French 
Freemason under such circumstances 
seemed too preposterous to call for any 
comment. 

Others have a different view as for ex- 
ample the following: 
"My dear Mr. Phillips: 

"Your communication reached me this 
morning. But, Mr. Phillips, are you not 
evading the question? I am not satis- 
fied. For my own benefit I would like 
to know what is what in this matter. 

"President is, therefore, according to 
the Christian Cynosure, not a Mason. 
This is commendable. According to the 
Evening Star of Washington, D. C. 
however, he is a Mason. This is lament- 
able. Now, is he or is he not a Mason? 
That's the question. 

"Am I justified in asking this ques- 
tion? It is important. If this matter is 
hushed up, to which I am opposed, am I 
not justified in doubting the veracity of 
the National Christian Association? 

"Aye. I then have every reason to be- 
lieve that Morgan was not a Mason, that 
he was not abducted by the 'Masons, but 
that the whole thing is but a cunning 
scheme adduced by the Roman Catholic 
Church as propaganda against the Ma- 
sons as stated in the book written by 
Ex-Priest Bernard Fresenborg. 

"Understand, T am not accusing you 
of any unfair play, 1 have no reason to 
do so. All I ask is that the National 
Christian Association refute the Evening 



36 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



Star of Washington, D. C, and thus 
square itself. It will surprise me if I 
should be the only one to call attention 
to this matter. 

"Yours very respectfully." 

sj; :}: >js s|s ^ 

The following may be helpful to those 
who have questioned the Editor's for- 
mer statement in the Cynosure that 
President Wilson was not a Mason : 

The National Masonic Research So- 
ciety publishes a monthly magazine The 
Builder, "A Journal for the Masonic 
Student." It is a very ably edited Ma- 
sonic publication. The May, 1919, num- 
ber (Vol. 4, Xo. 5, Page 109) contains 
a letter from a subscriber asking whether 
President Woodrow Wilson is a Mason 
or not. The Editor answers: "President 
Wilson is not a Mason." 

We have a letter from President Wil- 
son's secretary in which is this sentence : 

"The President is not a member of 
any secret organization or fraternity ex- 
cept a College fraternity." 



THE AMERICAN LEGION. 

The American Legion recently organ- 
ized, composed of veterans of the war 
with Germany, chose as Chairman, Colo- 
nel Henry D. Lindsley, Dallas, Texas, 
and as Vice-Chairman, Sergt. Jack J. 
Sullivan, Seattle, Washington, and as 
Secretary, Lieut. Col. Eric Fischer 
Wood, Washington, D. C. 

League's Preamble 

"For God and country we associate 
ourselves together for the following pur- 
poses : To uphold and defend the consti- 
tution of the United States of America ; 
to maintain law and order ; to foster and 
perpetuate a 100 per cent Americanism; 
to preserve the memories and incidents 
of our association in the great war ; to 
inculcate a sense of individual obliga- 
tion to the community, state, and nation ; 
to combat the autocracy of both the 
classes and the masses ; to make right 
the master of might ; to promote peace 
and good will on earth ; to safeguard 
and transmit to posterity the principles 
of justice, freedom, and democracy; to 
consecrate and sanctify our comradeship 
by our devotion to mutual helpfulness."' 

The first article provided that the 
name of the organization be "The Amer- 
ican Legion." 



Eligible to Membership. 

The second article provides that all 
persons shall be eligible to membership 
who were in the military or naval ser- 
vice of the United States during the pe- 
riod between April 6, 1917, and Nov. 11, 
191 8, both dates inclusive, and all per- 
sons who served in the military or naval 
arm of any of the governments associ- 
ated with the LTnited States during the 
world war, provided that they were citi- 
zens of the United States at the time of 
their enlistment. Conscientious and po- 
litical objectors and those dishonorably 
discharged from the service were held to 
be ineligible. 

The marine corps was added specific- 
ally. The provision was also amended 
to read that, those who were American 
citizens at the time of enlisting in the 
foreign army and who are again Amer- 
ican citizens at the time of applying for 
membership shall be eligible. 

It was provided that the executive 
power of the legion shall be lodged in 
an executive committee composed of two 
members from each state and from the 
District of Columbia. 

Publish National Organ, 
It was voted to publish a national pe- 
riodical which shall be the legion's ex- 
ponent of Americanism and that it shall 
be nonpartisan and nonsectional. 

An enrollment fee of $2 was decided 
upon and a minimum rate of $2 per an- 
num was proposed and referred to the 
committee on constitution and by-laws. 

Legion Will Run Nation. 

Washington, D. C, May 12 — (Spe- 
cial.) — That the recently organized 
American legion, composed of veterans 
of the war with Germany, "will run the 
nation in a very few years," was the 
prediction of Col. Henry D. Lindsley, 
director of the war risk insurance bu- 
reau, who returned today from the con- 
vention in St. Louis, where he was 
elected chairman of the organization. 

Asked to explain what he meant by ' 
running the nation, Col. Lindsley said he 
thinks the discharged soldiers and sailors 
will constitute "a mighty moral and 
spiritual force" capable of molding pub- 
lic sentiment on all questions. The le- 
gion, he said, will be strictly nonpartisan. 
— Chicago Daily Tribune, May 13, 1919. 



June, 1919. 



HR1STIAN CYNOSURE 



37 



MASONIC REGENERATION. 
An Exposition and Appeal. 

We wish to call attention to an article 
on Masonic regeneration which appeared 
in The Builder, May, 1918, under the 
title, "The First Degree." It is a very 
interesting and- instructive article, which 
was first published in the Kansas City 
Freemason and later in The Builder, 
''a Journal for the Masonic Student" 
which is published by the National Ma- 
sonic Research Society. We take a few 
extracts to show the drift of the article, 
and advise our readers to secure the 
magazine containing it, which may be 
had at Anamosa, Iowa. 

"If we believe in evolution, and most 
of us do, we must recognize that the 
path of our evolution is along the lines 
of our inner unfoldment, the evolution 
of our latent goodness. There is a germ 
of goodness, of pure gold in the breast 
of every human being, which by cultiva- 
tion and education can be developed into 
light and power.'' 

"The three degrees in Blue Lodge 
Masonry exemplify the ascent of man 
from the unregenerate and materialistic 
being to a regenerate master-man — the 
master-builder of character and man- 
hood. It is Jacob's ladder or the evolu- 
tionary path of man." 

"The common gavel teaches us to 'di- 
vest our hearts and consciences of all 
the vices and superfluities of life, there- 
by fitting our minds as living stones, for 
that spiritual building, that house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' 
The 'gavel' is our will-power, directed 
by our minds. It is through our will- 
power directed by our enlightened minds 
that we can free ourselves from unde- 
sirable conditions." 

"Those who originated the institution 
of Freemasonrv used this symbolic lan- 
guage to hide from the profane and yet 
reveal to the initiated profound truths 
and practical instruction, for our rule 
and guide in our daily living. The les- 
sons in this degree are eminently prac- 
tical. It is practical to be good, to be 
free from vices and passion ; for it 
leads to power, to health, to a long and 
successful life. And it is imnraetical to 
be a slave to vices, to degrading habits ; 
for they sap our strength, our manhood, 



leading to disease, failure and untimely 
death. 

"Therefore we see that the First De- 
gree is the first step a candidate should 
take, and that is Purification. Have 
you taken this hrst step? If not, why 
not ?" 



NEGRO CATHOLICS AND THE 
K. OF C. 



From an authoritative source I learn 
that the Knights of Columbus will soon 
have to face the question of allowing 
colored Catholics to become members of 
the organization. 

As the Knights of Columbus make 
Catholicity the basic (although not the 
only) test of membership, many negro 
Catholics have come to believe they have 
a right to ask for some form of affilia- 
tion, on this ground if on no other. I 
understand that a group of colored Cath- 
olics in one of our chief cities have 
considered the matter in all its bearings,, 
and while in no way wishing to push 
themselves into places where they would 
not socially be desired (recognizing as 
they do the prejudice against their color) 
they feel that, as Catholics, they ought 
to have the support and prestige which, 
they believe, would be theirs were they 
in some way incorporated into or affili- 
ated with the K. of C. They ask no 
more than to be allowed to form coun- 
cils exclusively of negroes, thus avoid- 
ing any mingling of white and colored 
members, which might seem undesirable. 
There are colored Catholic parishes so 
organized ; and they ask : "Why not or- 
ganize colored K. of C. Councils in the 
same way?" 

It is pointed out by them that whereas 
the negro non-Catholic has the colored 
Masons and Odd Fellows — organizations 
which do not mingle with the white or- 
ganizations of similar name, but are 
recognized and aided by them — the Cath- 
olic colored man has no lay organization 
of nation-wide extent in which to de- 
velop the natural desire for fraterniza- 
tion and to which he may turn for help 
in family or business need. (I have 
heard, indeed, o.f the Knights of St. 
Peter Claver, hut that is small, purelj 
local in character, and lacking the 
strength and prestige of the K. of C.) 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



The colored Catholic is forbidden by his 
faith to belong to the non-Catholic or- 
ganizations mentioned, but he has noth- 
ing to take their place. Outside of the 
strictly religious organizations and sodal- 
ities of his local church, he has to "play 
a lone hand." and as negro Catholics are 
in the minority in every negro commun- 
ity, they feel very keenly at every turn 
this lack of the support of their fellows. 

They point out also that the recogni- 
tion of the colored man as a member by 
a great Catholic organization like the 
K. of C, the acceptance of him into its 
ranks, would do much to remove from 
the minds of the negro non-Catholic 
those prejudices against the Church 
which are so deeply ingrained ; it would 
express openly 'the essential democracy 
of the Church, and would without doubt 
make for conversions. 

\\ Tiile this desire for membership as 
Catholics in this greatest of American 
Catholic lay organizations has probably 
been in the hearts of Catholic negroes 
for a long time, the war may be said to 
have brought it to a head. The war has 
resulted in a great increase of negro 
Catholic consciousness. An astonish- 
ingly large number of negro Catholics 
were discovered in the military camps 
and cantonments, and the K. of C. huts 
for colored soldiers were well patron- 
ized. The ministrations of the K. of C 
through special colored secretaries were 
much appreciated by all the colored sol- 
diers, but especially by the Catholics, 
who were proud to be able to say that 
this was a work of their Church ; and the 
colored Catholic soldier could not help 
feeling that he would like to be~a mem- 
ber of an organization of Catholic lay- 
men which could "put across" such a 
beneficent and widely-recognized work 
as this. 

In the Y. M. C. A. there has long 
been a colored branch, which functions 
not only in war, but also in peace, and 
the colored Catholic soldier has won- 
dered if the K. of C. in its after-war 
development will not provide for him 
something like this. 

It is too early yet to say what answer 
the Knights of Columbus will make to 
this demand of their colored co-religion- 
ists. There is, I understand, nothing in 
the K. of C. constitution against col- 



ored membership. There is on the other 
hand nothing specifically authorizing it, 
and I can imagine that the race feeling 
of the "white folks" will be instinctively 
against it. The tendency will be to tell 
the negroes to go form an order of their 
own, and not be bothering the white or- 
ders by appeals for admission. The ne- 
groes lay stress upon the Catholicity 
which they possess in common with their 
white brethren ; but the K. of C. is not 
so much a Catholic organization as a 
social and fraternal organization of 
Catholic men. As such they will (or 
many of them will, at any rate) contend 
that they have a right to choose, even 
from among white Catholics, the kind of 
men they desire to associate with. 

It may be held that the negro Catholics 
who are behind this movement are ex- 
aggerating the possible benefits of affili- 
ation with the K. of C. Some observ- 
ers may hold that it may be just as well 
for negro Catholics if the Knights as- 
sume a hard and fast attitude of oppo- 
sition to their project. But however 
that may be, the mattet is of more than 
passing interest. It promises a lively 
clash of opinions, and we are interested 
to see how it will work out. 

Albinus. 
— The Fortnightly Review, May i, 1919. 



"FEARED THE LORD AND SERVED 
IDOLS." 

PRESIDENT BLANCHARD, WHEATON COL- 
LEGE. 

This remark is made concerning Is- 
rael in the time when she was ripening 
for ruin (II Kings 17:33). The peo- 
ple were nominally worshipers of the 
true God. They knew the history of 
Egypt, the wilderness and Palestine. 
They believed in the doctrines, but they 
did not believe them as rules for daily 
living. They feared the Lord and they 
served idols. It is a sad fact that this 
same situation is true in our own time. 

I once asked a street-car driver if he 
was a Christian man. He indignantly 
replied: "Yes, do you think I am a 
heathen?" Of course, I knew what he 
meant. Theoretically he was a Chris- 
tian ; practically, he served his idols. 
That is, he did the things which he 
wanted to do, irrespective of the will of 
God. 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



39 



I was at a ministers' meeting recently. 
A brother there, whose appearance indi- 
cated rather a belligerent disposition, 
took pains to tell me about a half a dozen 
times that a statement which I had 
made concerning Freemasonry in the 
"Light on the Last Days" was false. He 
seemed particularly to enjoy the word 
"false," and as I did not strike him, he 
felt encouraged to go on — I "ought to 
have known belter than to publish such 
false statements," etc. 1 do not even 
know his name. Apparently he was a 
preacher and engaged by some church 
in Chicago. When I repeatedly asked 
him to tell me what I had said that was 
untrue, he neglected to do so, but con- 
tented himself with reiterating the state- 
ment that I had falsified. I do not know 
him at all, though I have seen him re- 
peatedly, but I judge that he is another 
case illustrating my text, "They feared 
the Lord and served idols." 

I received the other day a letter from 
a friend in Michigan. She wrote in 
great distress about the religious situ- 
ation in her town. She said that most of 
the brethren there were lodge men, and 
in a general way the churches seemed 
dead or dying. In the Providence of God 
there had come to her little city an able 
and God-fearing man. His testimony 
was taking hold of the community. Peo- 
ple were coming out to listen. There 
were signs of improvement. A revival 
meeting was arranged under the aus- 
pices of the churches of the community. 
This godly man was invited to preach 
the opening sermon. He did, and to a 
large audience, and the people seemed to 
pluck up courage and to have some hope. 
Directly, however, the ministers of the 
little city agreed to invite the lodge mem- 
bers to come out on certain evenings — a 
plan which has been used with a good 
deal of fuss and clamor by a number of 
our popular evangelists. She said, the 
first lodge night was for the Odd Fel- 
lows and that attendance following this 
meeting fell off with great rapidity, 
there being comparatively few present. 
.The sermon by a local pastor fell off 
more than the attendance did, there be- 
ing no spiritual food in it for the people. 
She said that the result was heart-break- 
ing to the Christian folk who were pres- 
ent. 



In this letter she enclosed an adver- 
tisement which the ministers had pub- 
lished in the local press . with a large 
heading, "Union Fvangelistic Meetings." 
The advertisement goes on to say : "Citi- 
zens of B and vicinity, let's get be- 
hind these meetings with all the vim and 
pep that we possess. Let's pull to- 
gether with the same enthusiasm that we 
put into a ball game, an athletic meet or 
a lodge meeting. Attend every meeting, 
sing the songs of Zion with energy and 
it will put sunshine into your hearts, 
drive gloom away and do you good. Lo- 
cal pastors will preach, special music by 
chorus choir. Arrangements will be 
made for overflow meetings. A special 
invitation is given to those living in the 
country. All Christians are requested 
to set aside one-half hour each day for 
the purpose of spreading this invitation 
by means of the telephone or otherwise. 
Come to church/' 

If this were a solitary instance, it 
would not be so discouraging as it is. 
Unfortunately, it is typical rather than 
otherwise. Evidently the ministers who 
got up this notice wanted to have some 
good meetings, and in order to get the 
people to come out to hear them preach 
they wanted the citizens to put "vim and 
pep" into the meetings, as they would 
"into a ball game, an athletic meet or a 
lodge meeting." 

It is to be feared that most of those 
who read that notice were not shocked 
by it. They have "feared the Lord and 
served idols" ttntil they are so bewil- 
dered and confused that they do not 
know the difference between Christian- 
ity and paganism. If a man says "God" 
in a sober way, they think he is religious 
and by religious they mean Christian, 
whether he be a worshiper of T>aal or 
Jehovah. 

An African Lodge. 

I was in a missionary meeting lately 
where a gentleman, who has been ten 
years working in Africa, was speaking. 
lie said, these heathen Africans all know 
about God and talk about God, but they 
know nothing about Jesus, they know 
nothing about the Bible. It is our privi- 
lege to introduce them to God manifest 
in the flesh, to Jesus Christ, the only 
Saviour of man. 

What a pit\' that millions of men in 



40 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



our country should be engaged week 
after week in reducing our people to the 
spiritual level of these African pagans. 
When will our professors of theology 
and our pastors of churches learn that 
there is no salvation apart from the life 
and work of Jesus Christ? 

I think I have before this mentioned 
my conversation with a university pro- 
fessor, who professes himself to be a 
Christian, who is strenuously insistent 
upon religious education, who is one of 
the leaders in an effort to get our Sun- 
day Schools to adopt lessons and books 
which are distinctly anti-biblical in char- 
acter. In one of the meetings at which 
he was speaking, I remarked that I 
wished men who believed in Christianity 
would say "Christian" and "Christian- 
ity" when they meant it and would not 
say simply "religion" and "religious" 
leaving us to question whether they were 
talking about Mohammedanism, the 
idolatries of India, Africa or South 
America. He replied: "I tell you, Mr. 
Blanchard, you cannot make that distinc- 
tion between Christianity and religion 
stand." 

I do not remember the words I used 
in reply but in substance, I would say, 
that "I did not expect to." 

The one who makes distinctions stand 
in this world is not a man, but God 
Almighty. He has declared that there 
is no salvation apart from the work of 
Jesus Christ. He has taught us that 
religions which do not put Jesus Christ 
in the forefront as the Savior of man 
are doctrines of devils and will de- 
stroy rather than help those who believe 
and practice them. His Word will stand 
and the words of theological professors 
and others, which contradict His teach- 
ing, are absolutely certain to go to the 
wall. It makes no difference how much 
money they have, or how many buildings 
or how many instructors or how many 
students, everything which builds on 
jesus will stand and everything which 
does not build on Him will be destroyed. 
It seems as if by this time any one who 
calls himself a Christian and who occa- 
sionally reads the Bible ought to under- 
stand this matter ; but still men go on 
fearing the Lord and serving idols. The 
Holy Ghost withdraws from their as- 
semblies, their children are unsaved, 



the world looks on and wonders what 
it is all about. 

Cannot our readers do something in 
the communities in which thev live to 
open the eyes of men, so that those who 
profess to fear the Lord may fear Him 
and stop serving idols. We trust that 
God may grant this grace to many and 
to this end we testify and pray and labor. 



THE PROPOSED WORLD CHURCH 
UNION— IS IT OF GOD, OR MAN? 

Synopsis of an address by Dr. James M. 
Gray, Dean of The Moody Bible Institute 
of Chicago, before the Graduating Class, 
April 17, 1919. 

Dr. Gray said that his address was 
based upon the newspaper reports of cer- 
tain regional conferences now being held 
for the promotion of a World Church 
Union or an Inter-Church World move- 
ment. 

It was proposed to organize a 
League of Churches as the result of the 
war, and he asked what churches are 
to be included in the League? 

"Three Protestant Episcopal bish- 
ops," he said, ''are now across the seas 
seeking a conference on unity between 
the Russian Greek and Roman Catholic 
churches, and the Protestant churches 
of the world, and although the Pope po- 
litely bowed them out of his presence, 
yet the movement is significant as the 
first time since the reign of Henry VIII 
when Protestant bishops have waited 
upon the Pope. 

"Here we may see prophecy in proc- 
ess of fulfillment, for not only is a 
league of nations revealed in prophecy 
whose head is designated as a secular 
despot, but side by side with him is an 
ecclesiastical head w T ho exercises his au- 
thority. 

"It might be said that the regional 
conferences were not thinking of a union 
with the Roman and Greek churches, but 
only one of the Protestant churches, but 
even in that case, the recent war illus- 
trated the kind of a union which it might 
be when the Knights of Columbus on the 
one hand and the Y. M. C. A. on the 
other controlled the entire field. How- 
ever, such unionizing of religious ac- 
tivities may have been justified by war 
conditions, it was nevertheless a body 
blow to evangelical Christianity and an 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



41 




JAMES M. GRAY 



injury to the spiritual interests of our 
righting men." 

Dr. Gray referred further to the re- 
ported declaration of the promoters of 
World Church Union that the spirit of 
co-operation was in the air so that "sec- 
tarianism and the accompanying bigotry 
which it engenders will not be toler- 
ated." 

"I do not believe in bigotry 
"and with grief I am bound 
that sectarian quarrels have 
bitterness, wrath, angc 



evil -speaking, but still it 



he said, 
to admit 
produced 
clamor and 
is true that 
devotion to and promotion of the tenets 
and interests of a denomination of 
Christians is a good and necessary thing 
in this age, when the tenets and inter- 
ests are in harmony with the word of 
God." 



He then went on to show that there 
was a time in the history of the church 
in this country when had it not been 
for the Evangelical Adventists the tes- 
timony to the coming of Christ would 
have suffered an eclipse. He also showed 
that the Baptist testimony to the ordi- 
nance from which that denomination 
took its name, has been a prominent fac- 
tor in restraining Christian apostasy. 
He referred in the same way to the 
principle of independency as established 
by the Congregationalists on the one 
hand and that of Episcopacy as repre- 
sented by the Anglican church on the 
other. "Silence the testimony of any 
of these distinctive denominations of 
Protestantism and the spiritual interests 
of the whole church would suffer. 

"The same might be said." he de- 



42 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919, 



dared, "of the Methodist emphasis on 
free grace on the one hand and the Cal- 
vinistic emphasis on divine sovereignty 

on the other." 

lie paid a tribute also to the smaller 
denominations like the Christian Church, 
the Evangelical Association, the Metho- 
dist Protestants, the Mennonites, the 
Moravians, the Reformed Episcopal 
Church, the United Brethren, the Evan- 
gelical Church and others, "all of 
which/' he said, "were born in a revival 
or owed their origin to a new emphasis 
on an old and nearly forgotten truth or a 
protest against some error." 

He said the argument for World 
Church Union growing out of the 
thought of efficiency made a discord in 
the service of God. Efficiency means a 
maximum of result with a minimum of 
expenditures, but Christ answered that 
argument at Bethany when he com- 
mended Mary for wasting the alabaster 
box of ointment on His head. World 
Church Union might secure more money 
for certain enterprises, but the smaller 
denominations and the smaller churches 
would bring more sinners to repentance 
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which 
is the real mission of the Church. ' 

The reported object of the W T orld 
Church Union was to "give expression 
on questions of Civic reform, law en- 
forcement, international morality and 
world peace." 

"No sane man," he said, "will question 
the desirability or necessity of these ob- 
jects, and no well-balanced Christian will 
think it well pleasing to God to neglect 
to promote them as an individual ; but 
they are not the calling of the church 
considered either as an organization or 
an organism, and for the church 
throughout the world to become ab- 
sorbed in them to the extent named is for 
the Bride of Christ to became a harlot. 
These things are by-products of Chris- 
tianity, and when Christianity itself is 
promoted by the evangelization of the 
masses, these by-products are as certain 
to follow as the grass is certain to spring 
up after rain." 

"The advocates of the World Church 
Union are riding into power on the plea 
of reconstructing things after the war," 
he continued. "They tell us that we 
are in a new world today and that the 



church must adapt itself to new condi- 
tions, but it is the same old world in 
reality which is only trying to get a new- 
grip on itself. Sin has not weakened its 
hold upon humanity and no new remedy 
has been found to dispose of it. 

"The claim of the advocates of union 
that the church is failing to function 
because its membership is absorbed in 
the salvation of their own souls while the 
world goes to the devil, has been effec- 
tively answered by Dr. Andrew Gillies 
in the Christian Advocate, who shows 
that the very opposite is true. For more 
than one decade there has been a steady 
change of emphasis in the church from 
the salvation of the individual to the 
salvation of society, and the danger is, 
as the writer above quoted says, that 
the churches shall become mere agents 
of social service, 'ethical asylums,' in- 
stead of homes in which souls are born 
into a newness of life." 

Dr. Gray said further that the theory 
that the church must go into politics and 
socialism was not attractive to the 
masses, but the very opposite. "The 
masses are coming to believe that the 
church is entrenching on the preroga- 
tives of the state," he said, "and as a 
southern preacher puts it, 'The church is 
endeavoring to enact into laws such 
ideals of morality and social reforms as 
she has been unable to inscribe on the 
tablets of the human heart. She is en- 
deavoring to enforce by the strong arm 
of government what she has failed to 
accomplish by moral suasion.' For this 
reason the masses are murmuring 
against the Church and beginning to 
demand its abolition, and its hope lies 
in its return to the Gospel and the simple 
ways of saving men." 

In closing Dr. Gray showed from the 
Scriptures that Christian Union had al- 
ready been made between true believers 
by the Holy Spirit, and the duty devolv- 
ing upon them was simply to keep it in 
the spirit of love and in the bond of 
peace. 

"In all this present agitation for 
World Church Union," said Dr. Gray, 
"it has been left for the Baltimore Sun, 
a secular newspaper, to utter the tru- 
est word that I have read when it said 
editorially, The principles of the Chris- 
tian religion are essential to the safety 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



43 



and welfare of the world, but if they 
are to prevail the churches themselves 
must be reconstructed, not in creeds, but 
in spirit and in life. The only thing nec- 
essary is that they should co-operate in 
Christian work as brethren.' 

"Doctrinal agreements and church 
federations are obstacles in the way of 
the divine purpose in this matter because 
they so closely resemble the real article 
that they prevent it from receiving its 
proper recognition. 

"As men and neighbors, as those of 
one blood and of one kin," said Dr. 
Gray, "let us do all that we can legiti- 
mately do to reform the city and the 
state and to promote international mo- 
rality and world peace, but when it 
comes to the formation of a World 
Church Union to promote such things, 
important as they are, let us beware 
that we are not found fighting against 
God, betraying the Lord for thirty 
pieces of silver and selling our birth- 
right for a mess of pottage." 



LODGISM AND THE INCOMPATI- 
BLES. 

BY REV. M. L. WAGNER, D. D. 

There are certain things in the sphere 
of the moral, the religious and in the 
spiritual that cannot co-exist in the hu- 
man heart, nor can they be harmonized 
in one's religious life. We term them 
incompatibles. Such incompatibles, ac- 
cording to the Word of God, are in- 
volved in participating in antithetical 
religious services, such as those of a 
Christian church and of a heathen tem- 
ple. We contend also that they are in- 
volved in holding membership in a 
Christian church and in a secret lodge. 
These incompatibles grow out of the an- 
tithetical, moral, religious and spiritual 
principles, doctrines and entities which 
are fundamental to these respective in- 
stitutions. Among them we note the 
following in which lodgism unquestion- 
ably comes into conflict with the Word 
of God. 
Righteousness and Iniquity. 2 Cor. 6:14. 

Righteousness as the term is used in 
the Scriptures comprehends correct and 
hol\- principles, right affection of heart 
and conformity of life to the divine 
law. 

Iniquity is the violation of the rights 
of God and of man either deliberately or 



by fraud, deceit, or circumvention. It 
is the antithesis of righteousness. 

Righteousness can have no fellowship, 
no just and equal right and interest with 
iniquity, because righteousness subsists 
in the Truth of God, whereas iniquity 
subsists in the lies of Satan; righteous- 
ness is perfect conformity to the law of 
I lod, and true righteousness is found in 
Jesus Christ alone and is imputed ac- 
cording to the law of God's grace by and 
through faith to those only who believe 
the promises of ( rod. 

There is no real, true and acceptable 
righteousness in lodgism, because there 
is no real truth of God, no recognition 
of the divine faithfulness, as exhibited 
in the gift of His Son, in lodgism, and 
therefore, no basis is found in lodgism 
upon which true righteousness can rest. 
( )n the contrary, that which lodgism 
terms and considers righteousness is 
from the viewpoint of God's Word, un- 
righteousness, for it subsists in the er- 
rors, the falsehoods, the lies that haw- 
prevailed among men ever since Satan as- 
sured Eve that they should be as gods, 
knowing good and evil. Lodgism has no 
place in its system for Christ, or for his 
righteousness, or for the faith by which 
it is apprehended and imputed, and 
therefore its so-called righteousness is 
iniquity. Can this righteousness which 
is of faith, have any fellowship with this 
iniquity of lodgism? Can a Christian 
who holds above all else the doctrine of 
justification by faith, approve this lodge 
righteousness and give it equal share, 
place and right with that righteousness 
which is of faith? Can these two 
qualities co-exist in the same heart, or 
be expressed in the same religious .life ? 
The Word of God says they can not. 

Light and Darkness. 2 Cor. 6:14. 
Tt is evident to the most ordinary 
mind that in the sphere of the natural, 
light and darkness can not subsist to- 
gether. Light dispels the darkness. In 
their religious and spiritual signification, 
light denotes the manifestation of God 
in Jesus Christ, the revelation of God's 
grace and truth, while darkness denotes 
man's natural inability to comprehend 
these spiritual and divine verities and his 
natural inability to know God and the 
salvation he has provided. Light de- 
notes and represents the religion of 



-4 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



Jesus Christ based upon this manifesta- 
tion of God in Him, or pure Christian- 
ity. Darkness denotes and represents 
the religion of man> based upon his ig- 
norance and his natural powers, or 
heathenism. 

There is nothing common in the es- 
sence of the Christian religion and in 
the essence of heathenism, and therefore 
there can be no fellowship, no concord, 
no real communion between them. A 
conflict there will ever be between them, 
but no communion. They are mutually 
exclusive and destructive. 

This true Light of God's love, truth 
and grace manifested in Jesus Christ his 
Son, has shone into the faculties of man 
for almost twenty centuries, and still the 
darkness comprehends it not. The dark- 
ness, that is the unenlightened and un- 
sanctified natural powers of man, not 
only can not comprehend the revelation 
of God in a person like Jesus Christ, but 
it denies the possibility of such manifes- 
tation. This denial is the darkness not 
comprehending the Light. 

The impossibility of any concord be- 
tween light and darkness becomes plain 
from this: Revelation is something en- 
tirely above and beyond the power of 
man to comprehend. It is something be- 
yond his powers to grasp, to discern and 
to enter into, because he has not by 
nature the necessary spiritual sense or 
faculty. To do so he must be born 
again. There is no fellowship between 
revelation and rationalism. The Light 
shines, but there is no spiritual eye in 
man to perceive it. He is blind so far as 
that light is concerned. Faith, the gift 
of God, is the sixth sense by which this 
light is perceived. 

In lodgism there is none of this true 
Light that shines into the darkness of 
men's hearts, all its proud boasts to 
the contrary notwithstanding ; no revela- 
tion of the true God, no distinctively 
Christian element, that is an unreserved 
and unequivocal acknowledgment of 
Him as the Son of God ; but all its reli- 
gious elements are derived from dark- 
ness, from corrupted and perverted na- 
ture, from speculation, from heathenism, 
to which standards it subjects all Scrip- 
ture statements which it may employ. 
Philosophize, syncretize, reason, or con- 
tend as men may, Christianity can have 



no fellowship with lodgism, no more 
than can light with darkness. 

Lodgism is the religion of darkness. 
It exalts the powers of man's darkened 
reason and perverted nature. It loves 
the darkness rather than the Light. It 
will not come to the Light lest its deeds 
be uncovered and reproved, and its 
abominations be exposed. If men per- 
sist in dwelling in the darkness of lodg- 
ism, they will lose their powers of spir- 
itual discernment, like the fish in Mam- 
moth cave have lost their power to dis- 
cern the light of day. 

Christ and Belial. 2 Cor. 6:15. 

Christ can have no concord, no har- 
mony, nothing in common with Belial, 
because Christ is the Truth, the fulfill- 
ment of all God's promises to man rela- 
tive to human redemption and salvation 
in concrete and living personality. Be- 
lial is the lie, the deceptions, the false- 
hoods, the perversions, the abominations, 
the malignancies of Satan in concrete 
and living personality. These two are ab- 
solutely irreconcilable. They can have no 
concord. There is nothing but spiritual 
antagonism between them. Lodgism is of 
Belial, for all false worships, false sys- 
tems of religions, all false ethical sys- 
tems, those which eliminate Jesus Christ 
from their religion and worship, whether 
designedly or unwittingly, are essentially 
Satan worship. Christ is the Pearl of 
great price. Belial is the worthless one. 

A Believer and An Infidel. 2 Cor. 6:15. 

A believer is one who from the heart 
believes that Jesus Christ is come in 
the flesh, that He is the Son of God, the 
Messiah promised to Israel, and who 
holds that the things written in the 
Scriptures concerning Him, are true; one 
who personally appropriates to himself 
all the works of Christ for man's re- 
demption so that he can say from the 
heart, "I believe that Jesus Christ is my 
Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and 
condemned creature," and conforms his 
life to this spiritual life principle and 
heart attitude. 

An unbeliever or infidel is one who 
does not believe these things, but on 
the contrary, deliberately rejects them ; 
one who is untrue to this faith, who does 
not conform his life, heart and mind to 
these things. There is, therefore, noth- 
ing of a true spiritual nature and qual- 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



45 



ity common to these two persons, or 
classes of persons, and therefore there 
can be no fellowship between them, for 
fellowship implies equal rights and 
equal possessions. 

Lodgism professes to unite into one 
religious body and fellowship men of 
these opposite, antithetical and mutu- 
ally exclusive faiths. It professes to 
find, or to have found a basis Upon 
which these can be in concord. That 
basis consists in an open or tacit denial 
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, 
and the denial that He is the Son of 
God. Lodgemen may flatter themselves 
that they have succeeded in formulating 
a platform upon which believers and in- 
fidels can fellowship and worship, but it 
has been at the expense of the Christian 
faith. They have succeded, but it has 
been by eliminating the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ, that which Freemasons call 
the rubbish in the temple of humanity, 
and coercing the Christian into a tacit 
unbeliever. A believer can have no 
part with an unbeliever or infidel. The 
Word of God declares it. That ought to 
settle the question with every Christian, 
the claims of lodgism to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The Temple of God and the Temples of 
Idols. 2 Cor. 6:16. 

The Temple of God is erected, stands 
for and is devoted to the Truth of God. 
The temple of Jehovah was a concrete, 
abiding testimony that Jehovah was not 
only the God of Israel, but that He was 
also God in Israel. The induction of an 
idol into that temple of Jehovah was sac- 
rilege and a profanation of that temple 
because it implied the denial of the truth 
that Jehovah is God in Israel. It im- 
plied that Israel had rejected Jeho- 
vah as their God and repudiated 
the Law by which they were bound to 
Him. It was a profanation of the tem- 
ple because that temple was devoted to 
his honor exclusively, and to devote it 
to an idol would be a perversion of the 
use thereof. To do so would be an in- 
dignity to Jehovah, and an outrage of the 
religious consciousness, feelings and sen- 
timents of Israel, because there can be 
nothing common between an idol and 
Jehovah. 

A Christian church is erected, stands 
for and by virtue of its dedication is 
devoted to the exhibition of the Truth 



of God relative to human redemption 
through Jesus Christ, the Son of God; 
that this Jehovah of Israel has become 
incarnate in Jesus Christ and that this 
God manifest in the flesh is not only the 
God of the Church but is also God in 
the church. It is a permanent, concrete 
testimony of those who erect it, to their 
faith in this Jesus Christ as their Lord 
and Savior, and those who erect and 
dedicate it to his Name are thereby mor- 
ally bound to use it for this end and 
purpose only. It mutely testifies to this 
Truth, and they who would use it in such 
a way as to imply that this Truth is a 
negligible trjing, or unworthy the treas- 
ure expended in its erection, or of the 
faith that inspired it, or that there is no 
essential difference between Christianity 
and heathenism, commit sacrilege. 

An idol stands for a lie, for a thing 
that has no real objective existence, for 
things that purport to be God which 
are not God, for human ideas and ideals 
of God, but do not represent Him es- 
sentially, which are nothing more than 
products of the human imagination as 
it thinks God is, or ought to be. God 
can not be represented by an image. 
He is incomprehensible, therefore, all at- 
tempts to represent Him are futile. In 
Christ alone we have the express image 
of his person. An idol and Jehovah have 
nothing in common. They have no 
agreement. To install an idol in a Chris- 
tian church, or to hold an idolatrous 
service in such church is not only de- 
priving Christ of the divine honors that 
are due him by virtue of his own exalted 
nature and office, arid also by virtue of 
that building's dedication to His wor- 
ship, but is also a virtual denial of his 
reality. Furthermore, it is a debasing 
and perversion of the house devoted to 
him. To do so is to give aid and com- 
fort to the cause to oppose which that 
church was erected and solemnly dedi- 
cated. It is a radical and complete per- 
version of the church building, defraud- 
ing Christ and betraying the trust of 
those who erected it. It is treason to 
the kingdom of God. It is stealing the 
livery of heaven in which to render 
service and homage to Satan. 

To hold a lodge service in a Christian 
church is as decidedly sacrilegious as 
was the pagan service in the temples at 



46 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



Jerusalem, introduced by Antiochus Epi- 
phanes, for the religious ideas set forth 
by the lodge service have no agreement 
with Christianity. A Christian church 
has no agreement in what it represents, 
sets forth and stands for, with the re- 
ligious ideas and doctrines expressed by 
the symbols, emblems, and ceremonies 
of lodgism. They are mutually exclu- 
sive. It is an element of Truth that it 
can not share in the least degree with 
error. The Christian worship is based 
upon the Truth as it is in Christ. 
The lodge worship is not. There 
can therefore be nothing in com- 
mon between them. If Christians can 
not discern these things by their own 
reason and strength, they ought to be 
ready to accept the testimony of the 
Holy Spirit speaking through the 
mouths of his prophets and apostles. No 
juggling with words can set aside the 
truth of the Word. Mental reservations 
in speaking, double-dealing with the 
meaning of w T ords, philosophizing in- 
compatibles and quibbling about facts 
can not alter the objective truths. The 
incompatible s remain unchanged. The 
temple of the Lord and the idols of lodg- 
ism have nothing in common, have no 
agreement. To devise a ritual combin- 
ing the elements of these antithetical 
services is like mixing poison with bread. 

And if an idol has no agreement with 
the temple of the Lord, much less can 
idolatrous ideas, doctrines and princi- 
ples have any agreement with Christians 
who are the temples of the living God. 
The Church as the body of believers is 
also God's temple. That God may dwell 
in this temple, all things that are opposed 
to Him #nust be cast out. Christianity 
and lodgism can not dwell together in 
the same heart, nor in the same spiritual 
temple, the congregation. 
The Cup of the Lord and the Cup of De- 
mons. 1 Cor. .10:21. 

The cup of the Lord is the witness to 
the truth that Christ's blood was shed 
for the remission of man's sins. To 
drink of that cup is to confess personally 
that Truth, and to appropriate it to one's 
self. There can be no more serious, 
solemn and binding act of worship en- 
tered into than this service of the com- 
munion. We therein covenant with 
God that as we drink of that cup and 



receive therein the remission of sin 
bound up in that blood, we also pledge 
to him our lives and service. It is a 
solemn testifying that one believes that 
Christ's blood was shed for him, and 
that he personally appropriates it, and 
believes that he had that which the 
words of Christ declare. To believe 
otherwise is to drink judgment unto 
one's self. 

The cup of demons, that is the. com- 
munion or participation in any non- 
Christian service which is either an imi- 
tation, substitution, perversion or 
counterpart of the cup of the Lord — and 
lodgism has such services — implies, sig- 
nifies and witnesses that the blood of 
Christ was not shed for the remission of 
sins, that is, not for the sins of those 
who drink of the cup of demons. It is 
an act that declares that that is a false- 
hood, a deception, a fraud, a lie, and to 
drink of the cup of demons is to con- 
fess and to proclaim it to be a deception 
and a lie. The incongruity and incom- 
patibility, the moral and spiritual ob- 
liquity involved in such an act on the 
part of one who professes the name of 
Christ, is glaringly patent. As he that 
is not with Christ is against Him, this 
attempt to drink of antithetical cups, or 
to participate in antithetical and incom- 
patible worships is all the more heinous, 
because it presumes to show that this 
double communion is possible, and there- 
by brands the inspired apostle as a liar. 
Can a Christian participate consistently 
and without an outrage of his conscience 
in communion and worship of the 
Church, and in the communion and wor- 
ship of lodgism? 

Christianity is not mere sweet senti- 
ment but the most thorough-going busi- 
ness in life ; the most rigid and exacting 
conformity of language, thought, wor- 
ship and deportment to fundamental 
principles. In separating one not of her 
faith from her communion, the Church 
is simply taking religion seriously, as 
the most vital and practical business in 
life, and to preserve her integrity, just as 
a business firm excludes from its service 
the dishonest partner or clerk. She does 
not sit in judgment upon his moral char- 
acter except as the question of morality 
inheres in him as not in accord with her 
faith and practice. To fellowship un- 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



47 



believers. is to confess that there is no 
vital difference, no question of veracity, 
no principle of integrity, but only a 
matter of sentiment existing between 
unbelief and Christianity, -between lodg- 
ism and the Christian religion. 

The gist of the whole question is, 
men who insist on liberality in religious 
views and practices do not regard their 
Christian profession as of any real and 
vital importance, or with any serious- 
ness. They insist that Christianity does 
not carry with it the obligation of verac- 
ity, of integrity and consistency in the 
sphere of spiritual verities and of spirit- 
ual conduct. They regard social or busi- 
ness misconduct as vicious, but spiritual 
misconduct as virtuous. Social advan- 
tages, personal ambition, business suc- 
cess are far more prized than the Truth 
of Him who redeemed them. The un- 
seen verities and values of faith are not 
prized by them. The idea that saving 
faith consists in subjective individual 
sentiment, that the acceptance of the 
privileges of the church does not carry 
with it the assumption of its responsibili- 
ties, duties, principles and life, lies at the 
bottom of the hue and cry for lodge 
privileges. There is little disposition in 
the modern spirit to accept reproof 
either for error or for sin. It will not 
have this man Jesus Christ reign over 
it. It is the spirit of unsanctified and 
un regenerated democracy. It is Bolshe- 
vism in the sphere of the kingdom of 
God. 

The Christian Church is the spiritual 
Kingdom of God on earth. This king- 
dom is the sphere and authority of pure 
revealed truth, and as such it must nec- 
essarily maintain a body of doctrine, 
and a code of morals consonant with 
its constitution, and as necessary to its 
existence. To surrender that body of 
doctrine or that code of morals is to sur- 
render the kingdom. 

Men are prone to think that until they 
covenant with each other to testify to 
the truth either in word or life, they are 
under no obligation to do so. This is 
an erroneous opinion and lies at the bot- 
tom of the "binding by oath" principle 
of lodgism. The Truth has prior exist- 
ence to their covenant. It is eternal. It 
alone has the high, ever-active, universal 
obligating authority and power which 



impels and commands men to be truthful 
and guiltless in words, honest and with- 
out hypocrisy in their acts. It obligates 
men not to lie, or covenant to deceive 
or to defraud. Any covenant to deceivi 
defraud or debauch is vitiated by the 
obligating power and authority- of truth. 
This is recognized even by the law of the 
land. Truth as an attribute of Curl 
obligates men to its claims, and to 
eschew all efforts to hold it down in un- 
righteousness, or to evade responsibility 
to confess it and practice it. Secrec) as 
to religious ideas and doctrines, or in 
methods of concealing error and false- 
hood under the garb of Truth, as in- 
compatible with the nature of truth, arc 
unjustifiable. Religious honesty, moral 
integrity, veracity, righteousness and 
virtue are this truth in action. 

Truth is a -fixed thing outside of man. 
It is not a changing opinion, or subjec- 
tive sentiment within man. It is the 
same yesterday, today and forever. Men 
endeavor to grasp it, comprehend it. and 
express and exhibit it, but they can not 
change it. When grasped, apprehended, 
acknowledged and received into the 
heart, it binds those holding it into a 
unity. Error can not come into that 
unity without vitiating and destroying it. 
Truth in all its forms and elements is 
incompatible with error. 



Worry and care, fear for our reputa- 
tion, or for our loved ones, or for our 
work, vanish in the trust of God. And 
when we have learned habitually to 
abide in God's trust, to form our judg- 
ments there and to speak as trusting 
him and commending his trust, we have 
gained a spirit of peace in which trust 
becomes the easy instinct of the soul. 



There is something very solemn in the 
thought that that part of our work 
which, we have left undone may first be 
revealed to us at the end of a life' filled 
up, as we had fondly hoped, w ith useful 
and necessary employments. — Sarah W. 
Stephen. 



Keep your temper— nobody else want- 



48 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



TESTIMONIES OF EVANGELISTS 



<%EV. R. A. WRREY 

Superintendent Bible Institute, Chicago, 
Now World-Wide Evangelist 

"I do not believe it possible for a man to be an intelligent Christian and an intelligent Masor 
at the same time.*' 



<REV. GEO. C. ZKEEDHAM 

The Irish 
Evangelist 

*'The mere recognition of the Bible and the mere 10 
khowledgment of God is not enough, and especially when a 
ritual is connected with heathen ceremonies and paganistic 
initiations, does the profession of a belief in God become 
presumptuous and blasphemous." 




REV GEO. C NEEDHAM 



DWIGHT L. mOODY 

"Give them the truth anyway, and if they would rather leave their churches than their lodges 
the sooner they get out of the churches the better. I would rather have ten members who were 
separated from the world than a thousand such members. Come out from the lodge. Better one 
; vith God than a thousand without him. We must walk with God, and if only one or two go 
with us it is all right. Do not let down the standard to suit men who love their oecret lodges ot 
have some darling sin they will not give up." 



<REV. B. CARRADINE, T>. <D. 

3£. E. Church, South; 
St. Louis , Mo., says: 



1. The method of initiation is wrong. 

2. These secret fraternities are rapidly becoming clubs and 
convivial gatherings. 

3. Secret fraternities strike at the happiness of the home. 

4. These fraternities rob Christ of his glory. 

5. The fraternity hurts us in the matter of church 
ittendance. 

6. The fraternity hurts the church financially. 

7. The fraternities have captured much of our preaching 
-alent. 

8. The fraternity is used by many as a substitute for the 
church. 

9. Many of these fraternities are striking at the sanctity 
of the Sabbath. 




REV. B. CARRADINE 



GEORGE F. <PENTECOST, D. D. 

"I believe that Masonry is an incalculable evil and essentially antichrist in its principles anfl 
influences," 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



49 



ILLINOIS GRAND LODGE. 

Whipping the Devil Around the Stump. 

I tried to impress upon every candi- 
date, especially when he had taken the 
first degree, what a stupendous humbug 
and confidence game Freemasonry is, 
but I might as well have acted the hypo- 
crite like all the rest — men will be hum- 
bugged anyhow — and it seemed as 
though they were stumbling over each 
other to get into the lodge. 

In the meantime I had not entirely 
forgotten Bro. Gunderson and his infi- 
del manuscript, and often wondered 
whether he had published it. Realizing 
how readily the majority of the craft 
will believe the most stupid fable, pro- 
vided it relates to Masonry, I was at a 
loss to know what I should do in case 
his book was printed and he should want 
my permission to introduce it into Key- 
stone Lodge. Returning from down town 
one Saturday afternoon I met him in the 
store of Bro. Sven Olin, a member of 
Covenant, 526, having a large package, 
which he said contained some copies of 
his book, and which Olin would take to 
the lodge the next meeting night. ''And 
by- the way, Bro. Ronayne," he added, "I 
shall also bring you a package, that you 
may do me the same favor in your 
lodge." At first I used evasion and tried 
to put him off carelessly, but he still per- 
sisted in his request, and being also im- 
portuned by some other Masons present, 
I said at last, in the presence of them all : 
"Brethren, you know that I am no more 
a Christian than any of you and care just 
as little for churches as you do, but that 
book is a gross slander and the vilest 
calumny upon Jesus Christ. He has been 
watching over and caring for me from 
infancy until now, and I shall never hear 
His name vilified or His character tra- 
duced without defending Him if in my 
power. And now I serve notice on Mr. 
Gunderson that he shall never introduce 
that book into Keystone Lodge!" "We 
shall see," was the reply of Gunderson, 
echoed by the others. "Yes," I said, "we 
shall see." And there the matter dropped. 

About a month or five weeks after this 
incident, at one of our regular meetings, 
the Junior Deacon, addressing the chair, 
called out as usual : 

"An alarm, Worshipful Master,"— (a 
brother wished to enter). 



"Attend the alarm, Brother Junior 
Deacon," 1 replied, "and report the 
cause." 

Some Master or Past Master from 
another lodge being seated near me I 
was occupied with him for the moment, 
and did not notice particularly the name 
called out when the Junior Deacon an- 
nounced, "Bro. Gunderson, of such and 
such a lodge." 

"Admit the brother if properly 
clothed" — and Mr. Gunderson entered 
and was approaching the altar to salute 
the chair, as all must on entering a 
lodge. 1 immediately rapped with my 
gavel bringing him to a halt, and said 
very peremptorily, "Bro. Gunderson, you 
will please retire." Quite taken aback he 
hesitated for a second, but on my repeat- 
ing the order he desired to know why I 
acted so? I simply replied, "The Wor- 
shipful Master of Keystone Lodge can- 
not be questioned as to his ruling. I am 
standing on the 'Old Constitutions' and 
you cannot sit in this lodge," and with 
another emphatic rap continued, "Broth- 
ers Senior and Junior Deacons, you will 
please approach the East" — they did so — 
"It is now my order that you escort Bro. 
Gunderson to the anteroom and see that 
he leaves the building." And my order 
was promptly obeyed. As in the case of 
Policeman Cronin I had acted on the in- 
stant, but my peremptory order exclud- 
ing Gunderson from the lodge caused 
quite a flurry, no one present having the 
least idea why I acted so. It was again 
very poor policy considered from a Ma- 
sonic standpoint, but nevertheless I am 
prouder today of that one act than of 
anything else I have done or said in re- 
lation to Masonry, either inside or out- 
side of the Masonic institution, in all mv 
life. 

In those days of the early seventies 
it would seem as though we had one 
surprise after another in Chicago Ma- 
sonic circles, but in the fall of 1873 
another event occurred which was more 
startling and caused a greater commo- 
tion among lodges in country and city 
than possibly anything that had yet trans- 
pired. Harmon (i. Reynolds, Past Grand 
Master of Masons of Illinois, had been 
detected stealing a large sum of money 
intended for burned-out Masons and 
Masonic widows and orphans. 



50 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



Reynolds was Grand Master immedi- 
ately preceding Cregier. He lived at 
Springfield, 111., and was the publisher 
of a Masonic magazine called The Trozv- 
el. Directly after the fire he solicited 
funds through the columns of his maga- 
zine for the Masonic sufferers, receiving 
in all about $800, which he at once ap- 
plied to his own use, never giving the 
slightest intimation to any member of the 
Board of Relief that he had received any 
such money. Toward the end of 1872, 
when Cregier's Blue Book, "Blessed 
Charity." had been distributed among 
the donors of the relief funds, a letter 
was received in Chicago from a lodge at 
Hoboken, N. J., inquiring why the lodge 
was not credited with the amount sub- 
scribed for the relief of their suffering 
brother Masons. A lively correspond- 
ence ensued which soon disclosed the 
fact that the money had been sent to 
Reynolds, the lodge at Hoboken holding 
his receipt. Reynolds was at once sum- 
moned, closely cross-examined, and 
was finally forced to confess that he had 
received $800 from various lodges, but 
if his brother Masons would not expose 
him he would pay back what he could 
just as soon as he was able. 

Of course the public, and indeed many 
of the lodges, knew nothing of all this, 
and matters were allowed to run on, 
until at the approach of the annual 
meeting of the Grand Lodge in October, 
1873, he handed over $641.41 to the 
Grand Secretary, giving some frivolous 
excuse for retaining the balance. In the 
Secretary's report to the Grand Lodge 
Reynold's petty stealing was necessarily 
mentioned, and the entire correspon- 
dence relative to the whole matter was 
turned over to the Financial Committee, 
with directions to bring in a special re- 
port. Being a member of the Grand 
Lodge, and knowing all the facts in the 
case, I expected nothing less than the 
expulsion, or at least the indefinite sus- 
pension of Reynolds, but mark the com- 
mittee's report : 

"Your committee to whom was re- 
ferred the special report of the Grand 
Secretary in regard to certain moneys 
paid him by P. G. M. Reynolds, have 
had the same under careful considera- 
tion and would respectfully report, that 
this case presents so much that is praise- 



worthy and noble on the part of the 
lodges contributing the money, and so 
much of an apparently opposite charac- 
ter in the brother who received it from 
them, but who withheld it from those 
for whom the generous donors designed { 
it, that we find it difficult to properly 
express our admiration for the acts of 
the one and our pain at having to refer 
to the conduct of the other." — Grand 
Lodge Report for 1873, p. 85. 

Was that all? Simply "pained at hav- 
ing to refer" to the dishonesty of a con- 
fessed thief! But no, that was not all. 
Next morning, the second day of the 
Grand Lodge meeting, Grand Senior 
Warden Joseph Robbins, of Quincy, 111., 
presented a resolution to the effect that 
inasmuch as P. G. M. Reynolds was 
about to permanently remove with his 
family to Kansas the Grand Lodge, "in 
grateful acknowledgment of his eminent 
services to Masonry, and to the Grand 
Lodge in particular, donate him $1,000," 
etc., etc. That resolution I thought was 
adding insult to injury, and hastily 
mounting the platform at the suggestion 
of many of the leading Masons of Chi- ( 
cago I begged of Cregier to let me have 
all the letters bearing on the Reynolds 
case. "What are you going to do?" he 
inquired. "I am going to prefer charges 
of gross immoral and unmasonic con- 
duct against Harmon G. Reynolds, and 
shall have them ready by three o'clock 
this afternoon." "Good," he replied, 
handing me a package of letters. Leav- 
ing the Grand Lodge in company with 
John O'Neil, Master of Blair Lodge, I 
placed them in the hands of Ed. J. Hill, 
with the request that he write out at 
once charges and specifications based 
upon those letters, and that he furnish 
them to me not later than three o'clock. 

Soon after the hour appointed, being 
called to the door by the Grand Pursui- 
vant, I was handed my expected docu- 
ment, with the letters returned, and go- 
ing without delay to the platform again 
waited an opportunity to present my 
charges. When at last I announced the 
nature of the document I held in my 
hand, Grand Master Hawley, turning 
rather fiercely around, exclaimed in as- 
tonishment, "You, sir, will prefer 
charges against the Past Grand Master 
of this Grand Lodge?" "Most certain- 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



51 



ly," I replied. "Why not? What is 
Harmon G. Reynolds more than any 
other Master Mason? And I want to 
add, Most Worshipful Grand Master, 
that were the humblest Master Mason 
in my lodge guilty of one-half the 
crimes charged against Reynolds in this 
document, and we refrained from pre- 
ferring charges against him, you would 
he the hrst to arrest our charter and 
close the lodge." The charges were read 
aloud, every point being strongly em- 
phasized. The Grand Lodge was imme- 
diately "called off" — that is, a recess was 
ordered, and then the excitement began. 
Reynolds' friends at first tried to brow- 
beat and bluff, and failing in that they 
resorted to coaxing and flattery ; but it 
was no., use, those charges were bound 
to stick. Old Harrison Dills came along 
with tears in his eyes, begging, "Oh, Bro. 
Ronayne, if this thing gets abroad Ma- 
sonry will come into disrepute and the 
character of this Grand Lodge will be 
ruined forever. Do, please, withdraw 
the charges." Expulsion was certain if 
the charges were pressed, and hence 
the persevering effort to have them with- 
drawn. Finally it was proposed to with- 
draw the resolution giving Reynolds 
$1,000. Having a guarantee to that ef- 
fect from nearly all the Grand officers, 
and being tired on the wrangle now pro- 
longed for nearly an hour, and being 
moreover importuned by some of my 
former colleagues on the Masonic Board 
to end the strife, I reluctantly consented 
to withdraw the charges, but only on the 
express condition that Reynolds should 
receive no money from the Grand Lodge. 
Just as the document was handed back 
John O'Neil asked to see it, promising to 
return it as soon as read. He has never 
returned it. 

Next morning to my great surprise 
and to the surprise of many others, a 
motion was made donating $500 to the 
Reynolds family. Reminding the Grand 
Lodge of the solemn pledge given to me 
the previous evening, Grand Master 
Hawley very blandly replied : "Yes, Bro. 
Ronayne, but we are not giving any 
money to Bro. Reynolds himself, we are 
simply donating it to his family." "Oh, 
well," was my contemptuous retort, 
"that's but a very poor way of whipping 
the devil around the stump," and the gav- 



el descending with a vim further discus- 
sion was cut off. Thus the same body of 
men who could pass resolutions of 
thanks, white-washing the Executive 
Committee of the Relief Board, could 
now very easily find a way to set a 
premium upon crime and violate a sol- 
emn compact in order to benefit a high 
Masonic official. But then, who has 
ever heard of a Masonic body, whether 
Lodge, Chapter, Council or Comtnan- 
dery, keeping a solemn pledge when the 
interests of Masonry can be better 
served by its violation? And to cap the 
climax, in the closing hour of that grand 
farce the Chaplain, a Methodist preach- 
er, had the temerity to thank God for 
the existence of the Grand Lodge of 
Illinois. No wonder that Freemasons 
are simply deists or infidels or even 
worse, as the Masonic preachers make 
them so. 

—From " Ronayne' s Reminiscences," 
by courtesy of the Free Methodist Pub- 
lishing House, Chicago, Blinois. 



THE EX-KAISER AND PRESIDENT 
WILSON. 



Masonry and the League of Nations. 

BY DR. LOUIS HACAULT, BRUXELLES, MAX., 
CANADA. 

The last May Christian Cynosure has 
reproduced from the Washington Even- 
ing Star, March 31st, 19 19, statements 
reported by Gordon Stiles concerning 
the ex-Kaiser and President Wilson, 
dealing with Masonry. "Masonry plot- 
ted the downfall of the Hohenzollern 
and Hapsburg houses," says G. Stiles. 
He based this statement on letters of the 
ex-emperor to Dr. T. Schiedmann of the 
University of Berlin, who "showed him- 
self convinced that Wilhelm was not re- 
sponsible for the bloodshed and misery 
charged to his account." 

Another statement made by said 
Schiedmann to Stiles is concerning Pres- 
ident Wilson. "The Freemasons of the 
world," said the ex-Kaiser, "were plot- 
ting the downfall of our house. * * 
The whole affair was engineered by the 
Grand Lodge of the Orient to which 
President Wilson belongs." 

Now in its issue of the 10th and 25th 
of March, jqtq. *he organ of the French 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



Anti-Masonic Association of Paris, has 
published, page 23, the following (au- 
thenticated) document reproduced from 
the Algiers (Africa) Depeche Alger- 
ienne, December 30th, 19 18, verbatim 
translation: 

"Vigilance and Masonic Action Com- 
mittee of Algiers." 

"On December 8th, 1918, the plenary 
meeting of the Algiers Freemasons voted 
the sending to President Wilson of the 
following telegram : 'On the moment 
of your arrival on French soil, the Free- 
masons of the four Algiers lodges, meet- 
ing in plenary assembly, on Sunday, 
December 8th, are sending to their illus- 
trious Brother Wilson, their most fra- 
ternal homages and their most vivid 
felicitations for his Masonic work in the 
war for the right and the liberty of the 
peoples.' " 

Answer from President Wilson's sec- 
retary : 

"Paris, December 17, 1918. 

"The President has ordered me to 
send to you his profound estimation of 
the good welcome words expressed in 
your telegram of December 13th." 

The French organ says also that when 
President Wilson arrived at Brest the 
Grand Lodge of France sent a Brother 
Tangourdeau to salute the President. 

Concerning the ex-Kaiser's letters to 
Schiedmann relating to the international 
Masonic plot, I beg to state that in Sep- 
tember, 19 1 2, the French Colonel du 
Patv de Clam, revealed in the Paris Re- 
view Internationale des Societes Sec- 
retes, that in a secret meeting held in 
Switzerland by the international "Fed- 
eration of Latin Lodges'' of Paris (sub- 
ordinate organization to the occult Su- 
preme Rite in Rome, since September, 
1870), first — the Freemasons concerted 
the assassination of the Austrian Arch- 
duke, intimate ally to the Kaiser ; sec- 
ond — that after the murder (Serajero, 
June 28, 1914) the said colonel revealed 
in same Review (July, 1914) that he had 
warned the Archduke in September, 
1912; third — that the Archduke made a 
private inquiry showing that the then 
known origin of the plot was in French 
Masonry, but this inquiry was stopped 
by the murder. Otherwise the Archduke 
could have found that the true secret 
origin of the plot, which was laid by in- 



ternational Masonry in order to provoke 
the European war (declared officially by 
the two Kaisers in August, 1914) was 
not to be found in Paris but in the Su- 
preme Jewish Council of the Rome In- 
ternational Executive and Dictatorial 
Supreme Rite, founded by Pike and 
Mazzini in 1870. Such being the facts, 
never objected to by any international 
or regional Masonic organ of the world, 
the responsibility for the war is to be 
charged firstly on Masons who crimi- 
nally and conscientiously provoked the 
war, and secondly on the Kaisers who 
declared the war. (Their responsibility 
ought to be subordinate to the responsi- 
bility of Masonry.) Logically the Ma- 
sonic responsibility ought to be first in- 
vestigated deeply by the Peace. Confer- 
ence and by the League of Nations, of 
which President Wilson seems to be the 
apparent protagonist. Unfortunately the 
Peace Conference and the League are 
in the hands mostly of agents of inter- 
national Masonry — till now never a word 
has been said about Masonry in the Paris 
conference. Never a word will be said. 

Being personally a Belgian by birth 
and knowing how both the Prussian and 
Austrian Kaisers martyred my innocent 
country, during the nearly five years of 
war, I cannot be suspected of pro-Ger- 
manism or pro-Kaiserism. My duty is 
to observe the historical fact with the 
greatest impartiality. 

How did Wilhelm Hohenzollern, who 
is not a Mason, understand that Masonry 
was plotting the downfall of the German 
Empire, which Masonic Brother Von 
Bismarck and Masonry created by 
treachery in the war of 1870 against the 
French Empire which was founded in 
185 1, by the Masonic Brother Carbon- 
aro, Louis Napoleon? 

Answer: The Archduke, heir of the 
Austrian Empire, had communicated to 
the then Prussian Emperor the warning 
which he had received in September, 
19 1 2, and also the result of his unfinished 
inquiry. 

When he was Masonically assassinated 
in 1914 by agents of the Belgrade Na- 
rodna Obrana (daughter of the Balkan 
Omladina, founded by Mazzini in i860), 
Kaiser Wilhelm said openly to the Eng- 
lish embassy at Berlin, "This crime is 
directed against all Germany," meaning 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



the two Central Empires. This is certi- 
fied to by the then Belgian Ambassador 
at Berlin in his book "Germany Before 
the War/' In a published dispatch to 
Masonic Brother Pichon, then chief of 
the Paris foreign office of the French 
Masonic Republic, Masonic Brother 
Carribon, then French Ambassador at 
Berlin, had warned the said Pichon in 
1913 of the change of feelings of the 
Kaiser towards said Republic and of his 
war preparations. 

Of course the Prussian Emperor also 
knew as true, what Disraeli had said in 
i860 and in 1876 in England about Ma- 
sonry ; that "governments have to take 
in consideration secret societies which 
have reckless agents everywhere who 
countenance assassination and can pro- 
voke massacres," and that for a century 
Masonry has had a considerable part in 
past wars; that it would be so for the 
wars in preparation ; that few knew the 
true motives for European wars. Ma- 
sonic Brother Whitten had not yet de- 
clared [Washington, Dec, 1917], "Our 
country is waging the war of Masonry." 
How did the Kaiser know when writ- 
ing to Schiedmann that President Wilson 
belonged to Masonry, as is revealed by 
the Algerian Freemasons in December, 
1918? Perhaps by some indiscretion of 
a German Freemason. Until 191 7 I sup- 
posed President Wilson had not yet en- 
tered into the International Society hold- 
ing its North American Central "Su- 
preme" seat in Washington not very far 
from the White House and the Capitol. 
This secret Masonic sect had already, in 
1914, a majority in the Federal Congress. 
I remember that when Wsodrow Wil- 
son was President-elect the St. Louis 
Port nightly Review reproduced an extra 
from a book of President Wilson's show- 
ing strong opposition to secret societies 
in the United States. Has he changed 
his opinions? 

Perhaps it would be interesting to 
know why Masonry plotted the down- 
fall of the two central allied empires of 
Europe. Was it in order to open a revo- 
lutionary war and a political tofiu bohu 
which would lead to the sovereignty of 
the international Masonic sect? 

In T890 there appeared at Paris a 
book from a converted Jewish ex-high 
Mason, P. Rosen, being a documented 



history of the acts of Masonry from 1717 
to 1890. Among the authenticated doc- 
uments, quoted in extenso in this book, 
is a translation from the Italian secret 
instruction imparted on the 5th of April, 
i860, at Palermo (Sicily) to the famous 
condotieri Joseph Garibaldi, by Grand 
Master Anghera, an apostate priest. I 
am translating the following from said 
authenticated document which never has 
been denied by Masonry : 

"After subverting the temporal power 
of the Papacy, our infamous and deadly 
foe, by the help of Italy and France 
[Fall of Rome, 1870] we will weaken 
France's support of its spiritual powers, 
by the concurrence of our [Masonic] 
power and of the power of Germany" 
[1870-T871I. The war of the German 
Empire against the French Empire was 
followed by a French Republic, which 
fell in 1877 into the hands of Masonry. 
And a day will come after the integral 
partition of Europe into two empires, the 
German one of Occident and the Russian 
of the Orient" [actually after the 
downfall of Czar Nicholas held by the 
Bolshevist ultra-Masonic ascendancy] 
when Masonry will join them into one 
Masonic empire with Rome as capital of 
the whole universe. Our supreme chief 
will then reign alone in the world, and 
sitting os, there are the 
Stoddards, Blanchards, Gordon, and too 
many to mention. Few funeral sermons 
have I given that I have remembered bet- 
ter myself than when I had the sad honor 
of saying a last word to that old grand- 
father-in-Christ. J. P. Stoddard, at the 
services in W'heaton College Chapel, for 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



seldom have I put more of my- own soul 
into it. God bless you, one and all. living 
or dead ! 

Then let me add, that I am very much 
pleased that the greatest meeting of 
Lutherans held in America and perhaps 
in the world, should so plainly and so 
disregard ful of material loss (which it 
means of course) denounce the system 
of religion common to all secret and 
many non-secret societies, wherein Christ 
is left out as an accommodation to His 
enemies. It was the historical meeting 
of the leaders of all Lutheran synods 
in America — except those of the Symbol- 
ical Conference ( which however are. if 
anything, still more pronouncedly ami- 
lodge-religion in their confession and dis- 
cipline) where they agreed upon all fun- 
damentals such as the inspiration of the 
Bible, the atonement of Christ and salva- 
tion by faith and added a strong resolu- 
tion on the un-Christian religion of the 
lodges. It did my heart good because it 
shows a stronger stand on this question 
among the other Lutheran bodies, than I 
really thought to be the case. And so 
the good work goes on more generally 
perhaps than we dream of. 

The Holy Spirit still works upon the 
hearts of men convincing them of sin. 
righteousness and judgment. It is with 
me now as thirty years ago a psycho- 
logic and religious unsolved puzzle, how 
people, whom (I must honestly admit) 
otherwise impress me as Christians, in 
this respect can be so blind as to think 
that Christ is pleased with Christless 
lodge-worship. How can they take part 
in it and not see that it is so plainly con- 
demned in God's Word ? Are they blind 
in that particular only or do they belong 
in the class of those of whom it is said 
that "'none are as blind as those that will 
not see'" One only of the hundred 
passages in God's Word is more than 
sufficient for any one to see that God 
does not hear prayers in any name but 
that of Jesus Christ. 

I once belonged to one of the least 
offensive of lodges. I was enticed into 
it in my youth through my passion for 
prohibition ; but as a Christian how 
could I belong to a lodge that had some 
prayers for Christians with Christ's 
name in them, and others for the ene- 
mies with Christ left out? Religion with- 



out that one name "above all other 
names" is a blasphemy. 

Dear Cynosure !- Go on thy way with 
Christ and the blessings and prayers of 
thousands. I have often wanted to write 
you an article, for my interests in your 
cause is unabated, but my time is so 
taken up since becoming an editor of a 
church paper and besides I feel that men 
like Charles A. Blanchard. D. D., should 
be given all the space you can spare. Dr. 
Blanchard has a wonderfully clear vision 
and expression. 

Yours in even' Cause of Christ'-. 

Rev. B. E. Bergesex. 



Charley Boettger says he heard tell of 
an Irishman who drowned because he 
belonged to the union and wouldn't swim 
longer than eight hours. Y\ nat do you 
think of that? 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 



REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

My work during the past month has 
been mostly in the Hoosier State. In- 
diana as usual measures 'up well on re- 
form lines. Enroute from Columbus, 
Ohio. I visited Cedarville. Xenia. and 
Davton, meeting many friends and the 
usual success. At Berne. Indiana. I 
spent several days delivering addresses 
in a country Mennonite Church and in 
the Missionary Church in town. I found 
that the largest block of stores in Berne 
had been burned during the year, but re- 
built larger and better. These people 
are thrifty. If their houses are destroyed 
thev build larger and push ahead. An 
Irishman was reported to have built his 
fence four feet wide and only three feet 
high, so if the wind blew it over it would 
be bigger than ever. Lodges meet with 
little success in this town as the people 
are too wise and busy to pay attention 
to such things. 

At Fort Wayne, Indiana. I found 
many open doors. A Sabbath was very 
profitably spent with our Free Methodist 
friends. The day was stormy but the 
attendance and interest very good. At 
Concordia College two hundred and 
twenty stalwart young men marched to 
their seats and listened with marked in- 
terest to my anti-lodge address, applaud- 
ing at its beginning and conclusion 



1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



Words of greeting were given to a Con- 
ference of Missouri Lutheran pastors 
and teachers who as always spoke of 
their appreciation of the X. C. A.'s ef- 
forts. Addresses at the Mennonite Mis- 
sion and Bible Training School were 
also well received. 

My next stop was Huntington, where 
the interests of our Radical United 
Brethren friends are centered. My en- 
tertainment was most generous. Time 
did not permit the acceptance of many 
kind invitations. An hour was spent 
at the College addressing the young men 
who were much interested and who asked 
many questions. 

At Fairmount. my next Indiana stop. 
I attended a W. C. T. U. meeting in 
the Friends Church, and addressed the 
students of the Wesleyan Theological 
Seminary. The W. C. T. U. meeting 
was held in the interest of "The Million 
Dollar Jubilee Fund Drive.'* now on. 
There was a song that especially inter- 
ested me. In quite a pleasing jumble of 
words there was an expression like this : 

"Jubilo and Jubilee, we'll bury the 
Demon in the sea." 

jubilo would be well known to any 
third degree Mason present as one of the 
Ruffians who helped to "bury the Grand 
Master Hiram Abift." "Whether a Ma- 
son had anything to do with this Jubilee 
song is not known to the writer but it 
had a Masonic sound. 

A Sabbath spent with a sister and 
family in Indianapolis gave opportunity 
for some very pleasant visits and the 
making of acquaintance of new friends 
in the Holland Reformed and other 
churches. I was given the Sabbath even- 
ing service at the Reformed Church 
Several seemed glad to get our message. 
The Domine especially wished help as he 
was not acquainted with the lodge say- 
ings and doings. 

( lood supporters were found at Flora 
and Logansport, Indiana, where former 
meetings had awakened a live interest 
1 found the Church of the Brethren Col- 
lege at North Manchester. Indiana, had 
suffered loss in its student body in com- 
mon with other Colleges. The President 
kindly arranged a hearing and your .rep- 
resentative spoke to the two hundred and 
more students present. They appeared 
in good spirit and prospects seem bright. 



Money is being gathered for more build- 
ings and a general enlargement. The 
spirit of enlargement seems to be in the 
air. Everywhere there are "drive<" for 
money. Would not this be a good time 
for the X. C. A. to have a special drive? 
Surely there is no cause more worthy or 
needy. 1 am now visiting a sister at 
Battle Creek. Michigan. Stopping en 
route at Kalamazoo. Michigan. I found 
two of the three Christian Reformed 
Churches without pastors. Lecture- 
were desired but circumstances were not 
favorable. A number of lectures have 
been arranged for Chicago, Illinois. 
churches which I trust may contribute 
to the attendance at our Annual Meet- 
ing now at hand. The new church build- 
ing of our good Mennonite friends i- 
surely a fitting place for our gathering. 
I overheard a conversation which took 
place just back of me on the trolley car. 
One of the men deplored the heavy debt 
they had on their I. O. O. F. building 
They must get the Rebekahs to work. 
Have a banquet and dance, etc. Plans 
were being laid after the order of the 
world. I thought surely "'the children 
of the world are wiser in their genera- 
tion than the children of light." An In- 
diana paper stated a certain lodge of 
Elks were having a '"drive" and securing 
man}' new members. Why don't we 
wake up and do as much. YVe know the 
masses wish to-be humbugged, but the 
truth is on our side. More would want 
the truth if they knew where to find it. 
Shall we not do our best? 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT. 
REV. F. J. DAVIDS >N. 

I am at present ( April 30th ) in St. 
Patrick, Louisiana, conducting a Minis- 
ters Institute at the Second Baptist 
Church. Rev. G. James, pastor. I have 
been <ick several days and unable to 
conduct the meetings and Rev. Mr. 
fames has held the fort. The meetings 
have been well attended even though 
the rain which began yesterday and is 
continuing has greatly interfered. Rev. 
Air. James was at one time a strong 
lodge man. but he has seen his error and 
severed his lodge relations and is now 
giving God his time and talent, lie i- 
a very earnest and conscientious minis- 
ter and has done good and creditable 



9 1 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



work for his people in this community, 
both spiritually, intellectually and finan- 
cially. 

Secret societies in this section were 
very strong- at one time hut they are 
on the decline and are practically dead. 
In New Orleans, the modern Sodom and 
Gomorrah, secret societies of all kinds 
are multiplying while the spiritual life 
of the churches as a whole is retrograd- 
ing. Very -few ministers dare to stand 
up and preach a whole gospel. 

The Central Baptist Church, of which 
I am pastor, has purchased two lots and 
is preparing to lay the corner-stone for 
a new church May 25th, the Lord will- 
ing. The Masons made a plea to lay our 
corner-stone but I told them "No." The 
Worshipful Master of a Masonic lodge 
offered $40 and also to bring out his 
lodge members and contribute from $30 
to $40 as a collection, but I could not 
sell my birthright (the gospel truth) 
for a mess of pottage (a few dollars). 
T ask the prayers of the Cynosure family 
that God may use me to build a house in 
His name where a whole gospel may be 
preached. A postal card of encourage- 
ment will do much to strengthen me. 
May God bless the faithful in Israel. I 
am yours for truth and righteousness. 
Francis J. Davidson, 
927 St. Maurice Ave., 
New Orleans, Louisiana. 



WORK IN TEXAS. 

}JRS. HANNAH CHANDLER. 

Though my letters to the Cynosure 
have been few I am still fighting the 
Devil and all his evils. For the past 
three months I have been working in 
eastern Texas and am glad to say that 
many souls have been won for the Lord. 
In Beaumont, Texas, after I had told 
of my experience in the Lodge and how 
the Lord brought me out of those secret 
societies there was a young man who 
came to me and said, "Will you please 
pray for me that I too may 'come out 
from among them.' I am a 32nd degree 
Mason and want to be true to Christ." 
He then handed me his lodge pin and 
to-day he is a Spirit-filled man and is 
exposing the evil of secret societies 
which is destroying the souls of men and 
women. 

I also spent a few weeks in Port 



Arthur, Texas, where the Lord saved a 
Creole man from the liquor and lodge 
habit and this man was a preacher too. 
From there we went to Groveton, Texas, 
and what wonderful meetings we had ! 
Nearly two thousand people came to I 
hear the Gospel every night, and many 
souls were brought to Christ. One even- 
ing I taught from Matt. 25:1-13 and 
told the people that they must have oil 
in their vessel if they expect to meet 
the Bridegroom when He comes and not 
grips and signs and passwords. Among 
the many converts that night were a 
man and woman who gave up their lodge 
affiliations and two Catholic sisters were 
also among the saved. 

On another occasion I taught from the 
37th chapter of Ezekiel showing the peo- 
ple that the cause of Israel's death in 
the wilderness was through worshiping 
idol gods and so it is with many of our 
Christians to-day — they are worshiping 
idols in the secret chambers of the 
Lodge. 

Though I am unable to attend the An- 
nual Meeting I shall try to send in an . 
offering, and shall pray for God's bless- ( 
ings upon the work. 



GEN. WOOD INITIATED INTO MYS- 
TIC SHRINE. 

Chicago, April 28. — Maj. Gen. Leon- 
ard Wood is a noble of the Mystic 
Shrine, having been intiated at the cere- 
monial held by Medinah Temple, Chi- 
cago. Senator Medill McCormick of Il- 
linois was another member of the class 

— Selected. 



"LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER." 

I am still pleading with God for the 
preachers of America to awake to right- 
eousness and sin not, for some have not 
the knowledge of God. ''I speak this to 
your shame,'' said Paul to the church 
at Corinth (I Cor. 12:34). God help 
us in Christian America to wake up. 
Awake thou that sleepest and rise from a 
the dead and Christ shall give thee light. ' 
(Eph. 5:14). Noah was a preacher of 
righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) and that is 
what we need today. 

The preachers who are tied up in 
Secret Orders can not preach righteous- 
ness effectively, for they are yoked up 
with the Devil. The minister dare not 



June, 1919. 



HRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



61 



preach against the thing that he him- 
self is in. When the Devil gets the 
preacher headed his way, the people will 
follow. The preacher, like Jonah, is 
.gone down inside the ship and the 
storm is raging, the sea is roaring, the 
ship is about to sink. Some people are 
unloading the cargo, but the preacher is 
not honest like Jonah. "Then said they 
unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for 
whose cause this evil is come upon us." 
(Jonah i :8.) Jonah told all, and said 
unto them : "Take me up, and cast me 
forth into the sea ; so shall the sea be 
calm unto you ; for I know that for my 
sake this great tempest is upon you." 
The great tempest or flood of secret so- 
cieties is upon us and our preachers are 
not honest enough to say: 'The fault 
is in me." 

I know of a truth that my race would 
not have been bound into these secret 
orders if it had not been for our 
preachers telling them to get into the 
Order for protection. Is the secret" so- 
ciety protecting us or destroying us? 
Let every sane man that has an ounce 
of sense open his eyes and look around 
him. Pick up your paper and see for 
yourself. 

It is our boys and girls who are being 
captured and led astray at the moving 
picture shows, by joy-riding, lodge balls 
and in every other way that the Devil 
can get up. 

A woman told me when I was in 
Chicago recently how she cried and 
prayed and tried to keep her boy out of 
the lodge. She said, "Sister Roberson, 
I prayed to God to save my boy from 
the Masonic lodge, but his preacher told 
him to join; so he listened to him and 
went in and they made him a Mason. 
They beat him up badly that night and 
scared him nearly out of his wits. He 
never did go back any more. He has 
no use now for secret orders, and I know 
God did answer my prayer," 

I said, Yes, if every mother would 
think and pray for their boys then there 
would be less trouble in this land. 

May God bless the work and also the 
coming annual meeting of our associa- 
tion. Yours for the work, 

Lizzie Roberson. 



"I WAS A THIRTY-SECOND DEGREE 
MASON." 
I was a vile sinner, my heart was as 
black as midnight. I was full of sor- 
row and remorse before I came to God. 
Society thought I was all right. My 
sins were all covered up from my friends, 
but I could not cover them up from the 
all -seeing eye of God. J traveled over 
the country to find something to satisfy 
my soul. I sought it in the secret order, 
I tried it in society, politics and busi- 
ness. I went through eight different 
secret orders, and finally went into the 
Masonic Order. But after I had entered 
and passed and risen to a Master Ma- 
son, I felt worse than ever. I was de- 
termined to satisfy and quiet my unrest 
and continued to climb in that order, 
finally becoming a Knight Templar and 
Shriner and a 'thirty-second degree Ma- 
son. I reached the top rung of that 
order and the very pit of sin. All the 
time I was going up in that order, I was 
going down deeper in sin. 

I sat in that order with the lawyer, the 
doctor, the judge, the banker, and I am 
sorry to say, the preacher. They did 
the same things I did. But I praise God 
that He revealed unto me my lost con- 
dition and spoke out of Heaven and 
said, "Come out from among them and 
be ye separate." For He showed me 
He was no respecter of persons and 
never turns the blind, halt and maimed 
away. He never taught behind closed 
doors "neither in secret." 
• How I praise God for saving my soul 
and taking me out of a life of hypocrisy. 
I was very proud, very deceitful, had 
scores of friends wherever I went, but 
they never told me there was a way out 
of sin. I had my name on a church 
book, I traveled over the northern part 
of America, wrecking my body in sin. 
T had the friends, the business, every- 
thing. If any young man could have 
been satisfied with the world, I was 
the one. 

I used to go to the State Senate. I 
sat in the state capitol and got bills 
passed. 

But underneath the fine clothes, there 
was a black heart and sin dragging me 
down to hell. I thought I was a fine 
fellow and drew young men into the 
Masonic order, but I was dragging them 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



June, 1919. 



to hell. My sins were all covered up 
from my friends, but I could not cover 
them up from the eye of God. He re- 
vealed them unto me as He saw my life. 
And then it was that I cried out for 
mere) . confessed my sins, and He saved 
even me. 

One night in a tent meeting I heard 
the old story of Jesus and His love, 
how he came to bind up the broken 
heart and set the captive soul at liberty. 
I knew those people had reality, their 
faces shone like Heaven. They told me 
how God healed them of all kinds of 
diseases. That was a wonderful thing 
to me, and I said down in my heart. 
"That is the thing I want." I had been 
sick for fourteen years, doctoring but 
getting no better. Doctors failed to 
bring me health, I weighed no pounds. 
But praise God He healed my body after 
He saved my soul, and today I weigh 
1 80 pounds. 

When I came to the Christ of Cal- 
vary, He gave me that peace and joy 
I had longed for, the thing I could not 
find in the banquet halls and society. 
Praise God, I have found reality, I have 
found peace. I never found it till I 
came to Jesus, to the Cross of Calvary. 
He healed my body, when I walked the 
streets almost a skeleton. The God of 
Calvary touched and healed my body, 
and I stand a witness to the powers of 
Christ of Calvary. I have proved there 
is a reality in this Gospel for "whosoever 
will." 

"Be not unecjuallv yoked together with 
unbelievers." (II Cor. 6:14). 

"Wherefore come out from among 
them and be ye separate saith the Lord, 
and touch not the unclean thing ; and 
I "will receive you, and will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be My sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 
(II Cor. 6:17, 18.) 

—Issued by the Apostolic Faith Mis- 
sion, Portland, Oregon. 



A friend of the Cynosure in Tyrone 
wrote us last month : "I wish you would 
send your good work this way, for there 
is sore need of it in central Pennsyl- 
vania." 



If we'd all get on fire for God, we'd 
scare the devil. 



EXTREMELY AMUSING. 
Emaus, Perm., April 21, 1919. 
Mr. Wm. I. Phillips, Managing Editor, 
Christian Cynosure, 850 W. Madi- 
son St., Chicago. 

Dear Sir : A copy of your extremely 
amusing paper was handed 'to me a 
few days ago with the idea that I would 
be very much enlightened as to the dif- 
ference between secret organizations and 
Christianity. I assure you I read the 
paper from cover to cover and while I 
did not find anything pertaining in the 
slightest way to the Golden Rule, which 
is true Christianity, I did find a laugh in 
every page, which would put you on the 
same footing as "Judge," "Puck," or 
"Life," and will make this promise, if 
you will expose a few of the secrets of 
some of the different Catholic organi- 
zations, such as Knights of Columbus, 
etc., I guarantee you I will subscribe for 
your paper for five years, paid in ad- 
vance. 

Yours truly, 

J. B. Brink. 

Our reply follows. A month and more 
has passed, but Mr. Brink has not made 
good his guarantee. Some laugh to hide 
their embarrassment ; how is it with you, 
Mr. Brink? 

Chicago, April 24th, 1919. 
Mr. J. B. Brink, 

Emaus, Pennsylvania. 

Dear Sir: Your letter of the 21st is 
received and I take pleasure in calling 
your bluff. 

You say "If you will expose a few 
of the secrets of some of the different 
Catholic organizations, such as the 
Knights of Columbus, I guarantee you I 
will subscribe for your paper for five 
years, paid in advance." 

The two copies of the Cynosure 
mailed you herewith contain not only 
our comments on the Knights of Colum- 
bus, but an advertisement of the secret 
work of that Order. We can also fur- 
nish you "The Secret Instructions of the 
Jesuits" for 50 cents. 

Come on now with your $5 for five 
years' subscription to the Christian 
Cynosure. If you keep your word 
that will be "extremely amusing." 
Yours very truly, 

W. h Phillips. 



June, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



63 



The bar-tenders union is probably the 
only organization which opens and 
closes its meeting with prayer. Accord- 
ing to their printed ritual the President 
calls the meeting to order and announces : 
"Let us be silent while the chaplain in- 
vokes the Father's aid." At the close 
of the meeting the presiding officer 
makes a similar announcement and the 
chaplain prays for the Father's protec- 
tion over them and their business as 
they go out to mingle with the selfish 
world. Then, says the Record of Chris- 
tian Work, "they return to their work 
of stealing the children's shoes, the 
widow's bread, the father's health and 
earnings." 



The Catholic Register of Cincinnati 
says editorially, "God has doubly blessed 
the Catholic Church of America by plac- 
ing one of its most faithful sons at the 
right hand of President Wilson. Next 
to the President, Hon. Joseph Tumulty, 
Knight of Columbus, wields the greatest 
political power of any man in America, 
and as a true Catholic he is exercising 
the great trust which God has given into 
his hands for the glory of the Holy 
Church." He is supposed to exercise 
this power for the good of the United 
State s. — United Presbyterian, April 
1919. 



KIND WORDS FROM FRIENDS. 

Seceded from Odd-Fellowship : Mr. 
T. M. Huffman of Dunkirk, Indiana, 
writes, "I was an Odd-Fellow for thirty- 
five years and have had every degree 
and have read the Bible entirely through. 
I am sure that Odd-Fellowship is the 
second beast that John speaks of in the 
thirteenth chapter of Revelations." 



Under date of April 28th, 1919, a stu- 
dent writes: "I have handed in an ap- 
plication blank for membership in the 
( kid-Fellows' Lodge. I am at Muskin- 
gum College preparing for the ministry. 
Since I signed the application blank I 
have thought very seriously over the 
matter. One verse in 2 Cor. 6, 'Come 
out from among them, and be ye sep- 
arate, saith the Lord' is ever before me. 
Please send me some literature or your 
personal advice." 



Rev. Carl B. Schuchard, pastor of 
Christ English Evangelical Lutheran 
Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., writes under 
date of April 29th, 1919: 

"Enclosed find my subscription to the 
Cynosure for another year. Wishing 
you and the publication all sorts of suc- 
cess, I beg to remain, most truly yours." 

Rev. P. J. Bunge, of Armour, South 
Dakota, writes : "Enclosed please find 
my yearly contribution for the good 
work done by the worthy National 
Christian Association, as a member of 
same. May it please God to abundantly 
bless this grand, good work, for Jesus' 
sake !" 



The Rev. John E. A. Doermann, of 
Grace Lutheran Church, died at his home 
in Washington, D. C, from a stroke of 
paralysis. He was 55 years old. 

Dr. Doermann was born in southern 
Illinois and was educated at Concordia 
College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the 
Theological Seminary of Capital Uni- 
versity, Columbus, Ohio. He moved to 
Washington, D. C, 26 years ago and 
since that time has been pastor of the 
Grace Lutheran Church. Previous to 
that time he was a professor for a year 
at a school in Graham, Virginia. 

Rev. Mr. Doermann was interested in 
our work and was a brother of one of 
the members of our Board of Directors, 
Rev. M. P. F. Doermann. 



Rev. H. J. Kuiper, a member of our 
Board of Directors, writes : "You may 
be interested to know that I have ar- 
ranged for special lectures on Lodgism 
for our young people's Monday evening 
Catechism class, for the next two or 
three weeks. 



Mr. Chas. Longman, Deloraine, Man., 
Canada, writes that he finds back num- 
bers of the Cynosure make good mate- 
rial for handing out. He is always ready 
to bear his testimony, -and keeps on hand 
literature for the help of those that he 
finds interested. 



Nothing is done beautifully which is 
done in rivalship, nor nobly which is 
done in pride. 



STANDARD WORKS 



ON 



Secret Societies 

FOR SALE BY THE 

National Christian Association, 



HOW TO ORDER: 

PRICES quoted in this catalogue include car- 
riage prepaid by mail. Orders by insured mail, 
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TERMS — Cash with order. VTe do not wish 
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WRITE your name and address plainly and in 
full, giving street number, post office box. R. 
F. D. number and box. and when ordering by 
express, give your express office if it is differ- 
ent from your post office address. 

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASS'N. 

850 W. MADISON STREET. CHICAGO, TEE. 



STANDARD BOOKS 



ON FREEMASONRY 



FREEMASONRY ILLUSTRATED. 

The complete ritual of the three degrees of 
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Profusely Illustrated. A historical sketch of the 
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HANDBOOK OF FREEMASONRY 

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in the Lodge-room, order of opening and clos- 
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with 85 engravings. Contains the "unwrit- 
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This book gives the opening, closing, secret 
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All of which are correct and can be relied upon. 
Th-3 accuracy of this work has been attested by 
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Cloth, $1.25; paoer cover, 75 cents. 

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EXPLANATORY. 
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Rite. There are 33 degrees in the Scotc- 
Rite, but the first three degrees as given 
in the "Handbook of Freemasonry*' belong 
to both the York and Scotch Rites. These 
five liooks give 43 different degrees without 
duplicating, 

SCOTCH RITE MASONRY ILLUSTRATED 

The complete ritual of the Scottish Rite, 4th 
to 33rd decrees inclusive, by a Sovereign Grand 
Commanded Profusely illustrated. The ' first 
chapter is devoted to an historical sketch of the 
Rite bv President J. Blanchard of Wheaton Col- 
lege, who also furnishes the introduction and analy- 
sis of the character of each degree. Over four 
hundred accurate quotations from the highest 
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MYSTIC SHRINE ILLUSTRATED. 

A complete illustrated ritual of the Nobles 
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NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
850 W. Madison St CHICAGO, ILL. 







tlSffi 



CHICAGO. JULY, 1919. 



No. 3. i 
48 I 



OUR fathers' God ! from out whose hand 
The centuries fall like grains of sand. 
We meet today, united, free, 
and loyal to our land and Thee. 
To thank Thee for the era done. 
And trust Thee for the opening one. 

Here, where of old by Thy design. 
The fathers spake that word of Thine 
'Whose echo is the glad refrain 
Of renched bolt and falling chain. 
To grace our festal time, from all 
The zones of earth our guests we call. 

^ :> '.'- ♦ 

Oh make Thou us. through centuries long 
In peace secure, in justice strong; 
Around our gifts of freedom draw 
The safeguard of Thy righteous law : 
And, ca^t in some diviner mould. 
Let the new cycle shame the old. 

— John Greenleaf Whittier. 




OFFICIAL OR£AN> NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AXfOCIATION 
CENTJ" A COPY EJTABLiJHED I86S 1.00 AYEAR 



uuat 



Vol. VII. No. 3. 



CHICAGO 



JULY, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 

V 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if w.e are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regxi» 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
fit the Post Office at Chicago. 111., under Act of 
Vlar.a 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



National Christian Association Convention. 67 
Extempore Address : 

Rev. W. L. Ferris, D.D 67 

Rev. J. H. Mokma .' 68 

Mr. Herman Newmark 69 

Rev. Allan Crabtree 73 

Rev. J. Van Lonkhuyzen 75 

Rev. A. F. Weins 77 

Mrs Lizzie Woods Roberson 77 

Rev. A. H. Leaman 79 

Secretary Phillips' Report 79 

Secretary Stoddard to Annual Meeting. ... 82 

Contributions . 84 

Annual Report of "Lizzie Woods" Rob- 

eerson 84 

Rev. Francis J. Davidson to Annual 

Meeting 84 

The Schismatic Altar, by Rev. G. H. 

Hospers 85 

Victory Over Vice 86 

"The Public Be Damned" 87 

Inter Arma Veritas 87 

One Year Ago — Chicago Evening Post 89 

News of Our Works : 

Harvesting, by Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek. 90 



Southern Agent's Monthly Report — Rev. 

F. J. Davidson.. 91 

"Lizzie Woods' Monthly Letter" 92. 

Eastern Secretary's Monthly Report— Rev. 

W. B. Stoddard 94 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. ~ 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra ; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 



LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, 31 18 Fourteenth 
St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 

Rev. J. V. Van den Floek, Volga, 
South Dakota. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 
New Orleans, La. 

Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 
St., Argenta, Ark. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under lieaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 
. — Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have 1 
said nothing. 
—John 18:20 



National Christian Association Convention 



Chicago June 5th and 6th, 1919 



(The August Cynosure will contain much 
additional matter. The following extempore 
remarks were taken stenographically but have 
not been read or corrected by the speakers 
thus reported. — Editor.) 

The Rev. Albert H. Leaman of the 
Mennonite Church acted as Chairman of 
the meeting Friday afternoon. The meet- 
ing was opened with the song "Faith of 
our Fathers." The devotional exercises 
were conducted by the Rev. A. C. Tap- 
per of the Free Methodist Church, Har- 
very, Illinois, who read the 6th Chapter 
of II Cor. and led us in prayer. Mrs. Ida 
Baker of Omaha sang a beautiful solo, 
based on the 91st Psalm, "Hidden away 
with Him." Following this an open 
Parliament of rive minute addresses was 
the order of the meeting. The first 
speaker was Rev. W. L. Ferris, D. D., of 
the Congregational Church, Dundee, 
Illinois, who spoke as follows: 

MR. FERRIS: Mr. Chairman and 
friends: There is a statement which I 
read sometime ago, that a person never 
ought to begin an address by using I or 
we : in thinking over the reasons for that, 
I find it, however, quite difficult to begin 
what I have to say without beginning 
with the personal pronoun. I had thought 
perhaps, that each was to have about ten 
minutes, but I will confine myself to the 
five minutes and not encroach upon the 
next one's time. 

I want to say this, my friends, we are 
making history very fast, very rapidly ; 
and we are turning the leaves of history 
very fast. "We are living, we are dwell- 
ing, In a grand and awful time; When 
through ages on ages telling To be liv- 
ing is sublime." The attitude which is 
taken by the National Christian Asso- 



ciation is either right, or it is wrong; 
either we are making a tremendous mis- 
take or else we are shedding light and 
truth in the world ; one of the two and 
there can be no mistake about that. 1 
want to say, my friends, inasmuch as I 
have but five minutes, what I have to 
say can be confined, and will circle 
around four thoughts, and I want to say- 
that I am opposed to secret societies and 
have been for the last thirty years and 
more than that, for the last forty years, 
for four reasons : In the first place. I be- 
lieve organized secrecy is opposed to the 
Bible. It is not a question of what you 
think, or what I think, upon this, or any 
other moral question, but it does depend 
on what God says, and when I know 
beyond the peradventure of a doubt, as 
far as I am personally concerned, that 
the Bible is diametrically opposed to the 
secret Lodge, I cannot be quiet on this 
subject. 

In the second place, I believe Jesus 
Christ is specifically opposed to secret 
societies. I cannot imagine for one mo- 
ment of the Lord Jesus Christ going into 
a Masonic lodge ; can you ? It would be 
the essence of absurdity, not to put it 
any stronger than that, to think for a 
moment that the Lord Jesus Christ 
would go through the lodge forms and 
ceremonies in connection with that ( )r- 
der. 

I want to say in the third place. I am 
opposed to secret societies because it 
seems to me that pre-eminenfely they are 
selfish. Now for every effect there is 
a cause ; for every result there is an 
existing element; there is something, un- 
friends, men and women, there is some- 



68 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



thing which really permeates these alli- 
ances, that connects with these organiza- 
tions known as secret orders, and we 
find after forty years' observation, what 
you have found in your study of the 
subject : that there is a spirit in them 
that is pre-eminently selfish. 

I want to say in the next place, my 
friends, that we are opposed to what 
is termed secret societies, because they 
are repugnant and they are unmanly, un- 
dignified. There are some things which 
are comprehensible and some things 
which are incomprehensible and we can- 
not imagine a Christian man, especially 
a Christian minister, tying himself up 
with and allying himself with these or- 
ganizations which are unmanly, undigni- 
fied, repulsive and repugnant. It is in- 
comprehensible how a Christian minister 
can be thus unequally yoked. We would 
be very glad to go into this phase of the 
matter, but we cannot. 

I said to my family physician not long 
ago, some years ago : "When you took 
the /th or Royal Arch degree, you swore 
that you would defend a brother Mason, 
right or wrong, murder and treason not 
excepted ; later you drunk the fifth liba- 
tion as a Knight Templar ; you swore 
that you would be willing to have — you 
invoked double damnation on your soul 
and the visitation of the sins of him 
whose skull you drank from — if you 
violated the Knight Templar oath." Now, 
I said, my brother, you who have been 
our family physician for ten years, have 
no right to do that thing as a professing 
Christian. I said as a follower of the 
Lord Jesus Christ and as an American 
citizen you have no right to do that. He 
said: "Ferris, the whole thing is rotten 
to the core, and I am going to get out of 
it just as soon as I can." Now that was 
the testimony of a man who had been a 
member of these Orders for more than 
twenty-five years. 

I have got a boy, and he has just 
come back from the army, and he was 
fighting over there for about nine 
months — that black-haired boy; and I 
have four daughters — I am sure you will 
permit me this personal word, it is per- 
sonal and I mean it to be personal — I am 
going to die by and by, and so are you, 
and we have got to make our record 
right here and now in this world. If I 



wanted to be popular, if I wanted to 
travel along the line of popularity, then I 
would not be here this afternoon in the 
Mennonite Church. I have known what 
it means for the past thirty-three years 
in the ministry. We like the kindness 
and good will of others as well as you 
do. If a man wants to be popular he 
should not espouse the antisecrecy cause. 
I am going to die pretty soon and I do 
not want the Lord Jesus Christ to say: 
"I had a servant and he was unfaithful, 
he was untrue to his convictions ; he was 
not faithful." And then Mollie and 
Hattie and Jessie and Mabel will come 
and look into the casket and say : "Well, 
father was a trimmer ; father knew how 
to hedge, and compromise." I do not 
want them to do that. And then Donald, 
who has been fighting "over there" will 
come and look upon me and say : "Father 
was a compromiser ; I was willing to go 
over there and get into the trenches, into 
the mud and muck and blood, and en- 
dure the cooties, and I was willing to 
go over there and fight for nine months, 
day after day, but father was a slacker. 
I tried to be true, and I tried to be 
faithful as I fought yonder in the fifth 
artillery of Chicago, day after day, but 
father was untrue." / am not going to 
have Donald say that. 



REV. J. H. MOKMA: If you look 
at your program you will not find my 
name. I will try and avoid the pro- 
noun that we have heard about. Every- 
one who is used to getting up in public 
knows the difficulty one labors under who 
expects to listen to a speaker, and then 
all of a sudden is called upon himself. 
I think for that reason I may be able to 
stay within the five minutes, although 
sometimes it takes a man longer to say 
things when he is not prepared than 
when he is, as we also know. 

A thought that is playing in my mind 
is this : As I come in here and I see 
a small attendance, and I know the 
cause which is represented here and that 
the National Christian Association is riot 
a popular association. It is not popular 
in the sense in which the word is com- 
monly understood. Now, why is this? 
One thing on my mind is this : Does it 
follow because a thing is not popular 
that it is not right, or has not our 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



69 



blessed Master and Savior Jesus Christ's 
blessing? 

Our Lord said : "Except a man deny 
himself and take up his cross and follow 
Me, he cannot be My disciple." And 
doesn't that imply that we shall at times 
be unpopular and lonely? It does seem 
somewhat lonely sometimes and I want 
to say this afternoon, and I am not 
throwing bouquets, I want to say this 
afternoon, that those of our men who are 
in the forefront of this association, I 
think of men like Bro. Stoddard here, 
Bro. Phillips and others, who are in this 
work, especially those who go out 
throughout the country. It takes a good 
deal, it seems to me, to keep faith and 
courage and be with the minority, so 
to speak. But we have all heard the ex- 
pression that with God one is with the 
majority. We are connected with a 
church where we have as one of the 
fundamental principles of church mem- 
bership that membership with any of the 
secret Orders is inconsistent. While 
there may be some cases we do not know 
of, but if known these matters are taken 
up and we labor with our people to that 
end that they must not have fellowship 
in secret societies. And so we also real- 
ize that as a church we are not popular. 

Now Christ has said : "If a man will 
deny himself and take up his cross and 
follow me" the outcome will be all right. 

Kings and kingdoms have fallen and 
are going to fall, but Christ Jesus re- 
mains and all who are on His side shall 
stand with Him. I believe we under- 
stand the Word of God, and are stand- 
ing with both feet upon its principles 
and those of the National Christian As- 
sociation, and as such and in God's 
strength we say with Nehemiah : Though 
the enemy may say, What will these do. 
yet with the help of God we will go on, 
and will look for the reward that is 
promised. The Lord help us. 



MR. -PHILLIPS : I received this 
letter from Mrs. M. A. Durham, the 
Evangelist, who was to speak this after- 
noon. She is holding special meetings in 
a Michigan City and says that condi- 
tions are such that she will not be able 
to get here. I suggest that Mr. .Her- 
man Newmark be given the time that 
would have been given to Mrs. Durham. 



MR. NEWMARK: 1 am a Hebrew 
Christian, or to be clearer a converted 
Jew, and as such this text comes to my 
mind, and I am very, very fond of it. 
It gives the reason why I am not a mem- 
ber of a secret society. Psa. i i ( j:93: "I 
will never forget thy precepts, for with 
them thou hast quickened me." 

Four years ago by the reading of the 
Word of God, and without any friend 
or any person's help, but merely by the 
operation of the Holy Spirit, I accepted 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the 
Word of God has the primary place in 
my heart. I have not done very much 
reading for the last four years except 
of the Bible. The Lord knew I was to 
be a Missionary for Him, and this is the 
way He has been training me. 

Around this quoted text clusters my 
thought for the afternoon. That text 
gives the reason why I cannot have any- 
thing to do with secret societies : / re- 
member God's precepts, that is all. 

I did not suppose I would have to talk- 
longer than a few minutes, so I have 
nothing prepared, but I can tell you some 
of my lodge experiences. 

The first thing I knew of the Masonic 
lodge has a relation to father. He was 
himself very anxious, as soon as he could 
afford it, to become a Freemason, and as 
I knew he always wanted to do right 
things, I thought the Lodge must be a 
good place to be in. But I remembered 
a man in London who was a grocer and a 
notorious thief; he moved some miles 
away from London, and the first thing 
we heard was that he was very popular in 
that city, and had become a Freemason. 
I wondered why men of that character 
could become a Freemason, and why 
there was no objection to their entrance 
into the Masonic lodge. 

The next time the lodge was brought 
to my attention was on my way to Japan. 
I stopped at Shanghai, and a friend said 
to me : "When you can afford it, when 
you get to Japan, join the Masonic lodge, 
because you will know the right people." 
I decided when the time came and I had 
the money to spare, I would join the 
Masonic lodge. 

When in England I hoped, while quite 
a young man, to see the brotherhood of 
all nations. When the war broke out 
I was struck dumb and I thought there 



70 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



will not now be any brotherhood formed 
between nations, so if I want a brother- 
hood. I had better try and get into the 
Masonic lodge. I went to a man whom 
I had heard was a Mason, and he said : 
"Yes." he would present me to the lodge. 
That brought me before' the Worshipful 
Master of the lodge, and the first thing 
he said was this : "You are a Jew, are 
yon?" I said, "yes": he said: "Well, 
we have religious sentiments in the 
lodge." I did not know anything about 
the lodge, I didn't care, I wanted to go 
into it for the brotherhood ; that is why 
I wished to join it "Well," he said, 
"as you are a Jew, I will tell you that 
there are religious exercises in the lodge, 
but the name of Jesus Christ is never 
mentioned in the lodge." Of course that 
satisfied me. That is why I joined it. 
Had he told me that the name of Jesus 
Christ would be mentioned, I would 
never have joined the lodge. Now that 
Jesus was left out, of course, as a Jew, 
nothing hindered me from going in, and 
I went into the lodge. 

I must tell you that in all my pre- 
vious life I was very, very self-righteous, 
particularly self-righteous. I was very 
proud of myself and I lived as clean a 
life as I knew how, and disassociated my- 
self from any people who were living ug- 
ly and unclean lives. When I got into the 
Masonic lodge I found the very people 
I would have shunned were in there, and 
they were my brothers! I found the 
head Freemason in Japan was a man who 
had two wives living. I met some of 
these men at different places, and I 
found that I would be in danger of 
drinking with them. I had always kept 
clear from it, but these were my broth- 
ers — I -didn't know what to do. 

Then the pomposity in the lodge, which 
called one of the members Worshipful 
Master ! It disgusted me. This was 
even before I became a Christian. 

It is not worth while going to lodge 
once a month, if I have anything else to 
do, was the impression that the lodge 
made on me before I became a Christian ; 
and while I was in the lodge I com- 
menced to read the Bible to find the Ma- 
sonic ceremonies in it, presumably in the 
Kings and Chronicles, but I could not 
find them there. Of course the claim is a 
lot of nonsense ; as far as I know the 



whole origin of Masonry was in a beer 
house, in London not many years ago. I 
do know what the Masons have to say 
about Hiram of Tyre is not according to 
the Word of God, which says that he 
completed the work. 

Just a few months after I had joined 
the lodge I came out. I will tell you 
what first led me to absent myself and 
afterwards to leave the lodge entirely. 
When I joined the lodge a friend of 
mine, a German, at least half-German 
and half-Japanese, was initiated with 
me, and he was one of the best of men ; 
he was a good friend of mine ; his friends 
were not many, not the Germans at all, 
but among the Americans and English all 
the time. When the war broke out the 
Americans and English, who used to be 
his friends, turned agakit him. Natu- 
rally in joining the lodge he thought that 
he would be where there was brother- 
hood and equality and friends. He was 
careful, and although he was a German, 
he was accepted in the lodge after the 
war had broken out. Very soon after- 
wards, notice was served upon him and 
other Germans, that they must absent 
themselves from the lodge during the 
war. He came and told me. 

If you will remember that I went into 
Masonry for the brotherhood and that 
was all, I did not go in to get benefits in 
business or anything of that kind. I 
asked the Worshipful Master what he 
meant by dismissing the Germans from 
the lodge, and he said : "We have to act 
according to instructions from the Grand 
Lodge in England." I said: "Why have 
they given such instructions ?" He said : 
"It is no business of ours to inquire why ; 
we have to obey." I said: "There must 
be a reason for it." He said :"I suppose 
that in one of the lodges in England the 
Germans may have created a disturbance 
and therefore they made it a rule to put 
the Germans out." I said: 'Have you 
any reason for thinking that any Ger- 
man in the lodge here will create a dis- 
turbance ?" "No;' he replied. "Have 
you anything against this German?" 
"No." I said : "On what moral ground 
or right can you tell them to go out?" 
"We have to obey instructions from the 
Grand Lodge," he said. "Have you got 
to lose your individuality because you 
became a Freemason ; lose your sense of 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



7\ 



right?" I asked. He said: "You know 
what you have become; you can just do 
one thing or the other, you can either 
obey or leave the lodge." 1 said: "If I 
was in your place, and I was the Wor- 
shipful Master, I would rather give up 
my job than be forced to do something 
I, myself, did not think was right." He 
admitted to me that as far as he was 
concerned he would rather leave the Ger- 
mans in the lodge, but he had to obey. 

I felt that the whole principle of 
brotherhood in the lodge was a fake. I 
went into the lodge to find equality ; 
to rind brotherhood between all races, 
and it had turned out to be a farce. And 
then I looked a little more carefully into 
the whole thing, and then realized how it 
was anti-brotherhood and anti-Christian, 
and 1 seceded, and wrote my testimony 
and sent it around to all the people whom 
I had known in the lodge. I tackled the 
clergyman, the very one that said the 
prayers when I went through the de- 
grees, I tackled him, but nothing could 
be done with him. I find to get a 
Christian out of the lodge is almost 
harder than to get a Jew to accept 
Christ ; it is trying to knock down a well 
eighteen feet thick with your fingers. 
It is inconceivable. I have met many 
Christian clergymen and missionaries 
who are in the lodge, and they just won't 
move. My testimony, "Why I am not 
a Freemason" I presented to one mis- 
sionary, and he said that it was one- 
sided. "You don't give the other side." 
I said: "Quite right; only one side is 
necessary for the Christian, that is God's 
side." In Japan I met one man, head 
of a large theological seminary, who had 
been a Freemason for forty years. I 
said to him : "Can you be a Christian 
and be in the lodge?" "Oh," he says, 
"the lodge is very Christian." "But," 
I said, "in the first three degrees the 
name of Christ is never mentioned." He 
says: "Oh, yes, I know that, but in the 
last," he says, "it is very Christian. The 
funeral ceremony is very Christian." I 
said: "Most people don't take more than 
three degrees." "Well," he said, "I am 
sorry." 

In Japan one Freemason whom I met 
one morning, said to one who was with 
me that he had drunk twenty cocktails 
the night before at the lodge, and that 



he had to go to the doctor that morning. 
In that lodge they have the "Masonic 
Club" and that is open on Sundays as 
a counter attraction to the Church and 
there are billiards and drinking. They 
invited me when I was only through the 
second degree, to join this club. Nobody 
but a Mason could join it. That is what 
Masonry stands for in Japan. 

Over in St. Joseph, Missouri, as I 
was coming here, 1 was invited to speak 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church there 
and before the meeting came on, I 
learned that the pastor was a Freemason, 
and I went and dealt with him on the 
subject. He said: "I have been over 
here eighteen months, and I have only 
been in the lodge once." I said, if that 
is the case, you might as well come out 
altogether. He was really busy with 
evangelistic work, and he had no time 
for the lodge. I had the privilege of giv- 
ing my testimony in that Church and 
he was sitting behind me and everybody 
knew that he was a Freemason. I had 
the wonderful blessing of hearing him 
standing up after I had finished and say- 
ing that I was quite right, and there is 
no brotherhood outside of Jesus Christ. 
I hope he is true to what he said and 
that he has come clean out of it. 

In Japan one time I was giving my 
testimony to another missionary and he 
said: "I was back in America on a 
furlough, and many tried to persuade 
me to join the lodge. I went to my 
brother who is a practising physician, 
and I said: "They advise me to join the 
lodge ; you are in it, what do you say ?" 
He said: "Keep clear of it; T joined it 
several years ago to help me in business, 
in my profession, and it has helped me, 
but I wish I w r as out of it." But he 
hadn't the courage to come out. 

I would like to tell you about an ex- 
perience in which God graciously used 
me in bringing one man to secede from 
Masonry. A young man named Larson 
lived in San Francisco. He was con- 
verted in one of Billy Sunday's meetings 
and he came out. to do business in Japan. 
He had not been in Tokyo many days 
when I was told of him, and went to 
see him. I discovered that his wife was 
wearing a Masonic pin. I commenced giv- 
ing him tracts concerning Freemasonry, 
and then I discovered that he was reallv 



72 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



a Freemason. There was this about him 
which helped me very much in dealing 
with him. Although he was a Christian 
man he was' in such a poor state of phy- 
sical health that he continually had to 
take stimulants. He was taking whisky 
or brandy daily, and I said to him : Do 
you think this is right for a Christian? 
Don't you think God will help you? He 
said: "I am asking Him to help me, but 
He does not." I said something is in 
your life that is hindering. I asked him 
if he didn't suppose that his association 
with the lodge was hindering God from 
working with him. That that perhaps 
was the one thing in his life that hin- 
dered him from getting help. 

He said: "I knew when I joined the 
lodge that I was playing with fire." 
He said he joined the lodge for 
business purposes, and also as a 
protection for his wife, for in San Fran- 
cisco if his wife walked on the street 
without a Masonic pin, he said, she was 
likely to be discourteously treated by 
Freemasons, but if she wore the pin she 
was safe. He said that before he joined 
the lodge he had read all their secrets and 
yet he went in. He said : "I knew I was 
playing with fire" 

I said, "what are you going to do?" He 
replied : "I am not going to let anything 
stand in my way." He got on his knees 
in my room, and promised the Lord that 
he would get out of Masonry and send 
out his testimony, which later he did, and 
God helped him, and both his epilepsy 
and chronic constipation were cured. 
This was in February, 191 8, and up to 
the present time he is absolutely well, 
God honored his secession from the 
lodge. He said he was willing to give 
up anything else that God wanted him 
to, but God showed him nothing else. He 
wrote to his lodge and told them that he 
would have nothing more to do with the 
lodge and they sent him a letter, telling 
him to come over from Japan and ap- 
pear before them, stating that he had 
been guilty of unmasonic conduct. It 
pleases me to have this testimony, be- 
cause as I go around I find so many 
people who are helped by his experience. 

On the car the other day, when I 
handed a man a tract on "salvation," he 
said : "This is my church ; this is my 
religion," and he pointed to a Masonic 



button. I told him he would be lost if 
he was depending on anything else but 
the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, 
that Masonry was absolutely false. I 
know the inside and the outside and what 
real salvation is. It is a pleasure to 
stand here and be able to say these few 
words to you. 

I am having my personal testimony of 
how I became a Christian, published, in 
which I am bringing in the fact that I 
could find no brotherhood in secret so- 
cieties, but had found brotherhood in 
Jesus Christ. What a wonderful privi-' 
lege it is to be a Christian. As a Free- 
mason I could go all over this land and' 
not be known, unless I pushed myself 
somewhere, but as a Christian doors open 
everywhere, and I have brothers and 
sisters, not only by the thousand but by 
the million, and they all love me. I know 
that is true because it is how I feel to- 
ward my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Well the whole system of secret socie- 
ties, whether Masonic or otherwise, is 
Baal worship ; it is not Christian worship. 
I have been reading some of the religious 
nonsense of the Eastern Star. Where 
they got in the Bible that fifth woman 
Electa from I do not know, but they tell 
me that she is in the Bible somewhere. 
There is no mention of her in the Bible, 
is there? 

MR. PHILLIPS: The Bible speaks 
of "the elect lady." (2 John 1.) Thus 
an adjective becomes a member of the 
Eastern Star. 

MR. NEWMARK: That is a small 
change, is it not? In the Eastern Star 
it is stated that once you have sworn to 
a thing you are absolutely held to it 
forever. I thank God as far as I am 
concerned, that if I confess my sins, He 
is faithful and just to forgive my sins 
and to cleanse me from all unrighteous- 
ness. I had sworn and taken God's name 
in vain, when I took the Masonic oath. 
But God says there is a place of repent- 
ance, and I confessed that sin to God and 
I am delivered from it, and when God 
delivers me, no man can hold me re- 
sponsible, and I am at perfect peace with 
God, and I am free from the curse. 
Again I say there is no one that is really 
in active Christian work that has any 
business in the lodge. 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



73 




ALLAN CRABTREE. 

REV. ALLAN CRABTREE: "Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these, my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me." At eighteen years of 
age, dear friends, I entered my first sec- 
ret society because my father was a Ma- 
son ; and I looked forward to following 
in my father's steps. 

The consecration ceremony of my first 
secret society closed with these words- 
that I have just read. The consecration 
ceremony runs this way: "I now con- 
secrate and dedicate you to the noble 
work of our Order, your head, your 
heart, your hands, your feet. Your head 
that it may be quick to conceive plans of 
charity ; your heart that it may overflow 
with love for your brethren ; your hands 
that they may open with means to relieve 
distress, and your feet that they may be 
swift to run errands of mercy, and may 
the Most High guide you through life, 
that you may hear finally the Most High 
say : "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." 

As a young men I believed this with all 
my heart. As an unsaved man I went 
into this Order with a good conscience, 



and I sought to be a faithful member of 
this secret society. I adopted it as my 
religion. I had no other religion and I 
began to be such a faithful member that 
1 was honored with first one of the 
lower offices and then I began to climb up 
as I committed to memory the ritual, and 
was patted on the back as a good lodge 
member, and I was appointed on the 
committee to visit the sick. I enjoyed 
the privileges of being one of the good 
lodge brethren who was faithful to my 
sick brothers, and in that lodge I finally 
went through all the chairs, becoming 
finally Sitting Past Dictator, and was 
presented with a twenty-five dollar gold 
badge in honor of my faithful service. 
Well it gave me a good deal of pride and 
I began to think that I was a pretty good 
man. 

Other lodge men came in touch with 
me, and I with them, and they invited me 
to join their lodge, and so I joined my 
second lodge. That lodge was composed 
of men and women, and so I began to be 
a good lodge member among the men and 
women, and I went on and went through 
the chairs of that Order, and then I 
joined my third lodge. 

I was so enthusiastic about it and was 
so religiously inclined in connection with 
it, that I wanted my wife also to become 
a member of the ladies' auxiliary order, 
and also to be interested in my order and 
to get into the social swim. But my wife, 
through some cottage meetings that were 
held in our community, got saved, and 
she didn't feel inclined even to go with 
me to a social session of the lodge, but 
as I learned later she was praying for 
me, with others. I then became inter- 
ested in the cottage meetings — although 
at first I hid out, would not go to the 
first cottage meeting that was held at our 
home : I hid behind the barn, and my 
wife came out and persuaded me to 
come in, and I became so interested after 
I had come in, that I thought "I must go 
down to the church and hear this 
preacher," and I became so interested 
in'the preacher that I thought he would 
make a good lodge member and I just 
determined that I was going to get him 
into one of my lodges. He was very 
courteous and he told me he didn't have 
time: he thanked me for my invitations; 
didn't say anything to me against the 



74 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



lodge, and I kept interested in the 
preacher and also in the lodges. 

My lodge brethren got me more inter- 
ested in lodges, and 1 joined the fourth 
lodge — and yet my wife kept praying for 
me. and the Christian people kept pray- 
ing for me: and my wife was faithful, 
and so was the preacher, in the sense that 
I could not get them to take any interest 
in the lodge, and I even went so far as 
to offer to pay the initiation fee for my 
preacher if he would join the fourth 
lodge I had become a member of. I 
was made Prelate of that lodge and 1 
thought this preacher would respect me 
if he saw I was honored to be Prelate 
of the lodge. But he most respectfully 
declined and I just didn't know what to 
do. but I did join the fifth lodge, and so I 
got into five lodges; but my wife kept 
praying for me. I guess you members of 
the National Christian Association have 
heard the story of the "jiner." I became 
one of the jiners and I prided myself in 
being a jiner. Well, as I continued to 
hear that preacher, I found there was a 
conviction of sin coming into my soul, 
and the first thing I knew I had gotten 
under very deep conviction. 

The Lord sent dear Mr. Moody down 
to that city for a little revival campaign, 
and in Mr. Moody's meeting he got hold 
of me, and I believe God used him to 
sweep me, just in His wonderful way, 
from death into life, by his message, 
and yet I could not bear much of a tes- 
timony. I at last had a deep conviction. 
I didn't profess conversion in Mr. 
Moody's meeting, but I did later in a 
meeting which followed Mr. Moody's, 
that was led by Orval Jones, who was 
traveling with Mr. Moody. I was still 
such a lodge fellow I could not see 
much difference between the lodge and 
the Church. I was very dull, but I made 
a confession of Christ, and I kept at- 
tending the prayer meetings in this way 
—I would go to prayer meeting one Wed- 
nesday night, and go to the lodge meeting 
the next Wednesday night. I would 
compromise. Finally at the prayer meet- 
ing we used the hymn books which had 
with every hymn a verse of Scripture. 
I got the Word of God in my heart in 
that way. by attending prayer meeting 
Wednesday night and hearing the Chris- 
tians testify who habitually quoted a 



verse of Scripture. I finally got courage 
to use one of the verses, and I got in 
the habit of doing that ; then I got into 
a Bible' training class, and spent about 
two years in systematic study of the 
Bible. In my two years of experience in 
that systematic Bible study in some way 
the truth got hold of me in such a won- 
derful way. 

In the meantime I publicly confessed 
Christ and went into the Church and 
began to do some personal work and 
started a little Mission of my own. I 
was still in the lodge — in five lodges — 
and nobody had ever said anything to 
me, or made any criticism about them. 
But one day I opened the Testament to 
John 14 :6 : "Jesus saith into him, I am 
the way, the truth and the life, no man 
cometh unto the Father but by Me," and 
it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit at 
once showed me something that no man 
had ever shown me, and that was that 
there is a difference between the teaching 
of this verse and the teaching of my 
lodge ritual. One of my lodge rituals 
had this in the closing ceremony: "When 
you come to that dark river that marks 
the unknown shore, may your hands be 
filled with deeds of charity, the golden 
keys that open the portals of eternity." 
And I began to compare these beautiful 
words with the worlds of Scripture and 
I said surely one of the two is mistaken. 
Here it says : "Jesus saith unto him, I 
am the way, the truth and the life ; no 
man cometh unto the Father but by Me" ; 
but the lodge says that the "deeds of 
charity are the golden keys that open 
the portals of eternity" ; and so the con- 
viction came into my soul that I had to 
make a decision here, and that I must, 
If I am truly born again ; if I am a saved 
man — preaching Chrisfand Him cruci- 
fied, and preaching the risen and the 
glorified Christ, and the coming Christ 
— surely, I must see that there is some- 
thing radically wrong about this lodge 
business ; and so I began to pray about 
it and then I began to talk to my pastor 
about it. He had been so careful not to 
offend me about my lodges, he knew I 
was conscientious about them, and he was 
afraid that he would drive me away ; 
but still he had been praying for me. My 
wife also had been praying for me. 
When I went to him he was glad to bear 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



75 



his testimony. I prayed about it, and as 
I prayed about it I said I must go before 
my lodge brethren. I loved them. I had 
been faithful to them, I had made the 
very best kind of a lodge man that 1 
knew how. And yet I must now, as a 
Christian, as a born again man, as a man 
who has been shown from the Word of 
God, by God's Holy Spirit that the Lord 
Jesus Christ is the golden key, "which 
opens the portals of Heaven," and the 
only key ; and that deeds of charity are a 
blinding thing of Satan — so I must go 
before my lodge brethren and say so. 
And I had the courage to face my lodge 
and say: Brethren, I love you, but before 
God I have a testimony ; I must tell you 
that I have found the Lord Jesus Christ 
my Savior, as "the way, the truth and 
the life" ; and that "no man cometh unto 
the Father but by Him." And I must 
say to you, that while I love you, I can- 
not stand up again in the lodge either by 
my presence or in person with the ritual, 
and tell men that "the deeds of charity 
are the golden keys that open the portals 
of eternity.' ' I must say to you that I 
most respectfully withdraw from the 
lodge. I made enemies, and yet I made 
friends. There were Christian men in 
the lodge who said : "We have never seen 
this before, and we believe you are 
right." There were others, professed 
Christian men, who turned against me 
and they said : "All the Christianity you 
have, you got in the lodge, and now you 
turn away from the lodge ; we cannot 
understand this." I said: "Brethren, it is 
not a question of whether you under- 
stand it or not ; I have been shown plain- 
ly from the Word of God, the only divine 
authority, what I am to do, and there- 
fore I am doing it, in the fear of the 
Lord, and without any malice in my 
heart toward any one of you. You have 
my prayers. I, by the manifest grace 
of God, have been saved, and I am glad 
to say that I have been saved, not only 
from hell, but I have been saved from 
that thing that leads men to hell, the 
lodge." In my judgment the lodge leads 
many men down the broad way, the way 
of destruction and to eternal destruction. 
1 offended many, but by the praise of 
God I say to you here, dear friends, it 
was my first lesson that the day of mira- 
cles was not over. It was nothing but 



a miracle, as we all agree, when God 
saves a human soul. Surely it is a mi- 
racle, friends, when a. man lias been 
saved and delivered from the clutches 
of secretism, as God has delivered me. 
That is my testimony. 

I am so glad for the privilege of meet- 
ing with men and women who are mem- 
bers of the National Christian Associa- 
tion. 1 had my first privilege of meeting 
and knowing some of you this last year 
just after coming to Chicago recently as 
a pastor; and 1 am glad indeed to have 
the privilege of meeting with you today 
and bearing this simple testimony. 

REV. J. VAN LONKHUYZEN : My 
dear friends, I have just come into this 
room and have had the pleasure of meet- 
ing you awhile and then Dr. Stoddard 
came to me and asked me to speak for 
a few minutes. People say that we min- 
isters usually like to hear our own 
voices, and now it may seem so to 
you when I come in and speak right 
away, that I just want to hear my own 
voice again. \ r ou know that is not the 
case. .We ministers hear sufficiently our 
own voices every Sunday. I had an 
appointment this afternoon so I did not 
have the pleasure of hearing other speak- 
ers, except the Tast speaker, and I en- 
joyed him very much. I wish I could 
hear, and you could hear, many such 
testimonies as the last speaker gave. I 
would like them for the whole afternoon, 
and the whole night, and the whole next 
day and as Jong as we had power to 
stay in our seats. So it is not that I do 
not want to hear, but I had an appoint- 
ment and could not be with you sooner. 

What I want to say, now that 1 am 
called upon to speak for a few minutes, 
is that I am just a couple of years here. 
I am a minister from the Netherlands, 
and these two topics that you have this 
afternoon on your program, "What the 
Attitude of a Christian Should Be To- 
wards the Lodge," and "Christianity 
Versus Secret Societies" sound very 
funny in my ears, that is, they would 
have sounded strange a couple of years 
ago, because in the Netherlands we have 
no such troubler of Christianity. Either 
you are a Christian, or you are not; and 
if you are a Christian, you don't belong- 
to the lodge; if you are a Christian you 



76 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



don't have anything" to do with the lodge. 
There are no Christians who belong to 
the lodge. I dare say that, because the 
lodges are all made up of people that 
belong to the world. That is what we 
call an antithesis. They are direct oppo- 
sites. You have to choose one way or 
the other, for the line is plain and keenly 
drawn ; you are standing" on one side 
or the other ; it is not a mix up. 

Six or seven years ago I was a dele- 
gate from the Xetherland Churches of 
our denomination to those scattered 
through South America. When I came 
there 1 met the Ambassador from Hol- 
land who said : "I understand you are 
not a Mason — you don't belong to a 
secret society ?" 

I said: "You understand rightly." He 
said: '"Take it now from me. I am 
your good friend, and I would like to 
help you. Join the lodge ; you will find 
that it will be a great help to yon." He 
was my friend and he was earnest. He 
said : "In this civilization you will meet 
many dangers, and all kinds of people are 
here that don't look upon you, a stranger, 
as they should ; the lodge you will find 
a very great help ; at every place you 
will have your friends that will take 
care of you." He was an elder in 
the Episcopal Church. " He said : "You 
know me ; I am a good elder, respectable 
man" — and he was a respectable man, a 
fine, nice man, one of the nicest men you 
ever saw. He said : "Our pastor be- 
longs to the lodge, too, and I know it 
will be a great help to you. Now I will 
show you it is not anti-Christian ; on the 
contrary it is a Christian lodge of good 
people here. Look here now, what you 
have to do in our lodge. It says here. 
T believe in the Great Architect of the 
Universe,' so," he says, "you see an un- 
believer cannot be a member of our 
lodge ; you must say, I believe in the 
Great Architect or Builder of the Uni- 
verse ; so you see we are all believers ; 
an unbeliever cannot join the lodge." He 
got his Masonic ritual and showed that 
much to me, and said : "I would advise 
you for your own good to join the 
lodge." I said : "These things that you 
have said I understand, but take away 
your fingers and let me see what is under 
them? I am always careful not to 
swear to something I do not know ; so 



take away your hand, please, and let me 
see what more there is in it, because I 
want to know if God will stand for that 
thing ; I want to know the whole thing ; I 
want to see what you have under your 
hand. I am not going to swear obedi- 
ence to something I do not know." "Oh, 
no," he says, "I am very sorry, but I may 
not show you the other part which is 
within my own knowledge, but I have 
shown you the important part : T believe 
in God, the Great Architect of the Uni- 
verse.' " 

I said: "If you will not let me see 
any more about it, it must be bad; if 
it is a good thing, you would show it, for 
men like to show the good things." Y"ou 
wanted to show those things which you 
thought were good, but the other now 
you hide it." 

"How can a Christian man go into the 
lodge? The followers of Mohammed 
and that kind of people you take in, but 
you take Christ away — the center and 
heart of our religion you take away ; 
don't you see it? And the other part 
you hide. It must be something bad, 
otherwise you would not hide it." That 
was as far as I got to see what was 
going on inside of the lodge. 

When I came here a few years later, 
I saw your struggle and I saw your fight, 
and since that time I have heard quite a 
good deal of it, and I am here to ex- 
press my sympathy with you, my dear 
brethren. Let the fight go on ; I am 
on your side because the Lord is on 
your side. The Lord does not want His 
people to mix with the world. He says : 
"You are my own chosen people ; you are 
a holy people ; you are to be separate 
from the world." He separates believers 
from unbelievers ; the lodge puts believ- 
ers and unbelievers together ; it makes 
one body of them. We should be a sepa- 
rate people in every sphere of life ; and 
since there are so many snares in the se- 
cret lodge our prayers should be offered 
for the men and women in them. Let our 
prayers be to the Lord that He may open 
the eyes of Christian people that they 
may see that they do not belong in these 
lodges. 

And so my dear friends, I pray that 
the Lord will grant you grace to continue 
in this good work, and at last come be- 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



77 



fore the Lord and join with us all to His 
praise and His glory. 



REV. A. F. WEINS: I am glad for 
the testimonies that I have heard this 
afternoon. I never did belong to a 
lodge so I cannot give a testimony of 
that kind. I used to have a Mission 
over on Oakley Avenue, Chicago, and a 
certain family who came to the mission 
made a start to serve Jesus. I knew 
they were lodge members but did not say 
much to them. Upon one occasion they 
asked me what I thought about the lodge, 
and I turned to the same chapter which 
the brother read — II Cor. 6th Chapter — ■ 
and we read the chapter together, and 
prayed together, and the next night they 
told me they could not sleep and got up 
and prayed to God to give them light and 
wisdom what to do ; and the next morn- 
ing they decided that they would give up 
the lodges that they might have Christ, 
and live a Christian life. The Lord had 
directed them what to do. 

May the Lord give us grace and cour- 
age to live for Him. 



MRS. LIZZIE WOODS ROBER- 
SON : I never belonged to a secret or- 
der in my life. My brother was a Ma- 
son in 1906, and came to the place where 
I lived, and got after a dozen or so of 
our Church brothers, who were members 
of the little Baptist Church where I be- 
longed, to get them into the lodge. 

My brother told me that Masonry was 
the greatest thing on earth. He said 
some man once tried to give the lodge 
away — he was talking about William 
Morgan, but I didn't know anything 
about it then and didn't know anything 
about the history of Masonry, but my 
brother said that they burned up two- 
thirds of New York and finally got hold 
of this man. I didn't know any better. 
He said the Masons killed two men and 
burned up two-thirds of New York City. 
"And Masonry was the greatest thing on 
earth." I saw that lodges were wrong 
then. 

When Mrs. Joanna P. Moore was sent 
to us in 1853 she said that she had edu- 
cated herself to go to China, but all the 
time she worked she would see little 
black children just looming up before 
her, and so she came into the South. 



She knew the Lord, and she came teach- 
ing from house to house, and she always 
had the Bible. 1 came in contact with 
her some eighteen years ago, and then I 
joined the Bible band and saw how far 
I was from God. I took my Bible home 
and put it on a chair, and got down and 
cried and asked God to forgive me and 
help me to learn His Word that I might 
live the life of Jesus for I had truly been 
converted. 

l»am not a speaker and may split a 
good many verbs — but you understand 
what I am talking about. When you are 
converted you are free from sin ; you 
have to give up your sins if you are con- 
verted, but if somebody don't teach you, 
you cannot learn and you will go right 
back and do the same things that you 
were doing before. 

Sister Moore told me about secret so- 
cieties, and pointed out the course for 
God's children ; that they ought to be 
separate from the world ; she told me 
that it was wrong to belong to these se- 
cret societies and showed me the sin, 
and I began to study the Bible on that 
point, and I saw more and more how 
wrong they were. 

I remembered that verse of the First 
Psalm : "Blessed is the man that walk- 
eth not in the counsel of the ungodly, or 
standeth in the way of sinners or sitteth 
in the seat of the scornful." "Blessed 
is the man that walketh not in the coun- 
sel of the ungodly." I thought how many 
ungodly preachers, class leaders and all 
kinds of men were singing "Blest Be the 
Tie That Binds Our Hearts in Christian 
Love." I say the man that walks with, 
the ungodly is not blessed. "Blessed is 
the man that w r alketh not in the counsel 
of the ungodly." We are sitting on the 
seat with scornful men ; men that scorn 
the Word of God and hence I said : 
"Lord deliver me from the lodges ; don't 
let me go into anything like that." I 
didn't know 7 then how to oppose them. 
After Sister IVIoore would teach me 
those lessons, I was anxious for my next 
door neighbor to know them. I would go 
home and start my supper and run -in 
next door to my neighbor's house and 
read the lesson. 

My neighbor would say : "Mrs. Woods, 
you are going crazy ; do you think you 
can live the way the Bible savs?" 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



I said :"I want the Lord's way; I 
want the mind of Christ. I want the 
mind of Cod, and 1 am going to keep 
God's Word.'' 

"Well, yon are just going crazy." I 
said : "I have more sense now than 1 
ever had. 1 have the sense to treat my 
neighbors right, and sense enough not to 
fight when anybody bothers me ; I don't 
know that I have lost my mind, but I do 
know I have the mind of Christ, bless 
the Lord." 

She said : "Nobody can keep from sin. 
You sin and 1 sin and everybody else 
sins every day." Then you just as 
well tear down all the churches if every- 
body 'sins and let everybody sin and go 
to hell if they want to. She said: "How 
are you going to keep from it?" With 
the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness, and with the mouth confession is 
made unto salvation. So when a man 
believes in his heart the sin is an outside 
thing, then you might think about the old 
sin, but his heart was made right. I 
said : "Watch and pray that ye enter not 
into temptation." She said : "Yes, but 
temptation will come." Yes, but temp- 
tation is not sin. We don't even under- 
stand our songs, for we sing 'Yield Not 
to Temptation, for Yielding Is Sin.' 
Tempation is not sin, it is the yielding 
to temptation that is sin. The Chris- 
tion has to fight these temptations that 
come to our minds. 

The devil don't get after the Christian 
that don't do anything, the one he is go- 
ing to fight is the one who is doing right 
— the other people belong to him. Y 7 ou 
will find in Matt. 4:4, Jesus said to the 
devil : "Man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God." I said: "I can live 
by that Word." She said: "Can you 
live right all of the time?" I said "all 
of the time." I know nothing about what 
is behind me ; tomorrow is not before me. 
The Holy Ghost says in the 3rd Chapter 
of Hebrews: "Today if ye will hear His 
voice, harden not your hearts." 

Then she said: "If a man don't sin, 
why pray?" I said: "Jesus said, 'Watch 
and pray that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion' ; I find out that the Tempter keeps 
at it. I have to watch and pray to the 
Lord God to make me strong to resist the 
Devil. 'Resist the Devil and he will flee 



from you' "; the Devil is a coward as I 
found that out through Sister Moore, 
bless her heart. She has gone to heaven 
after teaching so many women to live 
right. I saw that the secret societies and 
moving picture- shows and theaters and 
all such things are wrong ; the Lord kept 
me free from them. I am so glad that I 
do not have to sin. I don't believe I 
have to do a thing wrong. 

Once a woman came to our services 
and we read 1st Cor. 15:34: "Awake to 
righteousness and sin not ; for some have 
the knowledge of God ; I speak this to 
your shame." I said: "Women, it is a 
shame for us to tell people who never 
knew God that we cannot keep from sin- 
ning. We will never get the right idea 
of God if we don't study the Bible. 
James said: 'Be ye doers of the Word 
and not hearers only.' ' This woman in 
tears said: "Sister Roberson, I don't 
want to sin ; tell me how to get free from 
it." I said: "I am glad you asked me 
that. Go home and watch and pray. 
Every morning when you get up say, 
'Lord, don't let me sin today; let me 
speak but keep a guard on my lips.' 
Every time that the Devil overcomes 
you, come and tell us and we will pray 
with you ; and every time you overcome 
the Devil come and tell us and we will 
shout with you. 7 

One day she wanted to cook a cake 
and it took five eggs for the cake, and 
she only had two, and she said: "I will 
wait till my husband comes and go to the 
store and get some eggs." She went 
out into the garden to clear off the garden 
and to plant some English peas — I want 
to show you how the Devil failed in her 
case. She had given up cooking the 
cake, and was cleaning off the leaves 
in the garden when she came upon a 
nest with three eggs and the Devil sug- 
gested : "Now you can cook your cake, 
there are the three eggs, and that makes 
the five." She said to him : "I know 
what Sister Roberson taught and I am 
going to take these eggs over to the 
woman they belong to," and she ran 
around the house and took them to the 
woman and said: "Here are three eggs 
that I found, that your hens have laid 
in my garden," and then she shouted : 
"Glory, I didn't have to sin. No, I have 
to watch and pray and call on Jesus." 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



79 



She said: "The reason I could not keep 
from sinning before was that I tried to 
live by the week, and Sister Roberson 
told me to live just day by day and mo- 
ment by moment, so Glory to God, I 
don't have to sin. I am baptized with 
the Holy Ghost. I got just what the 
Bible said I would get." 

The Devil knows we are weak and he 
is going to try and break in. Paul 
said : "Lay aside every weight and the 
sin which doth so easily beset you, and 
run with patience the race that is set 
before you, looking unto Jesus, the 
author and Finisher of our faith." Bless 
the Lord ! I thank God I have learned 
that. Then I thank God that I came in 
contact with the National Christian As- 
sociation. They sent me some books, 
three degree rituals, and I showed them 
and sold them and distributed tracts. I 
did not know there was any danger, but 
men began to talk about killing me. How- 
ever, I kept on teaching the Bible lessons 
and I got a crowd every time. One 
night when I was teaching the lesson they 
had to hold a man — he was a gambler 
and I reckon would have killed me — but 1 
didn't know it until they got him out. 

The Devil will kill you sometimes. 
One of our men was shot through and 
through at Robinson, Arkansas. An- 
other brother Christian of our church 
was put in jail because somebody gave 
him a book on masonry and he was read- 
ing it on the street. They tried to 
smother him in prison because he kept 
preaching against Masonry. If you get 
to thinking about what the Devil is going 
to do to you, you will not work. I 
went to Austin, Texas, and the brother 
I stayed with had been a Mason, and his 
wife an Eastern Star. He said: "They 
will kill you here in Austin if you have 
that ritual." 

I laid on the floor that night and 
prayed and prayed, and after while I 
slept a little on my knees, and something 
said to me when I awoke : "Not a drop 
in the bucket." We children used to 
say : "I am not afraid of you ; you are 
not any more to me than a drop in the 
bucket." I said, why did that come to 
my mind. I looked in the "Concordance" 
for the word "drop" and T read: "Be- 
hold the Nations are as a drop of the 
bucket," and I said, yes, Lord. That 



just qualified me, gave me courage to go 
up the next night to the church, and l 
sold rituals and I 'hit the Devil straight 
in the face, and after the service was 
over several men and women came and 
had me teach and talk with them. Pray 
for me that T fight the good fight of 
faith. 



MR. LEAMAN r This completes our 
program for the afternoon. I think that 
it has been one of the best conventions I 
ever attended. ( )ne other word I want 
to add this afternoon ; if you are not 
acquainted with the Christian Cyno- 
sure, I wish you would get acquainted 
with it. I wish ministers would make 
a personal effort to get it out among 
their people. I know it is embarrassing 
to go to a friend of yours and say : "I 
want you to take the Christian Cyno- 
sure, subscribe for this." But some- 
times we ministers get a little extra 
money, besides our salary — a wedding 
fee or for some extra service. Take a 
dollar or so out of that and send the 
magazine as a present. It is the organ of 
the Association and it ought to be spread 
far and wide. I know some of you want 
to push it, and here is a place now where 
we can push it ; I wanted to say this 
before our Convention closes, which will 
be tonight. 

We certainly request the prayers of 
the people who are interested in this 
work. The ones who have the burden of 
this work certainly need the prayers of 
Christian people. We want you to help 
us get this literature out. . Remember 
us in prayer and do all you can also for 
the Cynosure. There are a number of 
extra copies here, take some along, and 
keep them if you like to. 

SECRETARY PHILLIPS' REPORT. 

The National Christian Association 
has had an interesting and prosperous 
jear. 

The financial interests of the Associa- 
tion have had a manifest blessing from 
God so that notwithstanding we had to 
begin each month hoping for a success- 
ful outcome, we have closed the fiscal 
year with all bills paid. 

The Board of Directors as usual have 
looked after and conserved the interests 
of the Association. Since our headquar- 



80 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



ters. the Carpenter Building, came so 
near being destroyed by lire, they have 
placed an additional $2,000 insurance 
upon it, making the total insurance on 
the building and contents, $9,000. They 
secured the services for held work as 
agents and lecturers the following: Rev. 
W. B. Stoddard, Rev. F. J. Davidson, 
Mrs. Lizzie Woods Roberson, and Rev. 
J. B. Van den Hoek. The latter has 
been in the service of the Association 
for only a short time. The Board en- 
deavored to arrange with Secretary 
Stoddard to do more work in some of 
the western states than heretofore. In 
round numbers these agents have given 
some six hundred addresses, besides 
making some 5,000 calls. These calls in 
some cases were as fruitful of good as 
a public meeting would have been. 

The Board of Directors ordered the 
publication of one new tract in Dutch 
(Holland language) and we hope it will 
be possible to issue two or three more in 
the same language during the current 
year. Among those ordered printed in 
English, the one showing that two-thirds 
of the Presidents of the United States 
were not Masons is especially timely in 
view of the ignorance of people generally 
as to the facts and the great advertising 
value which the lodge evidently finds in 
claiming the lodge membership of promi- 
nent public officials. Assistance was also 
given several who wished to issue book- 
lets at their own expense, but who 
needed the advise and help of the Asso- 
ciation. 

Literature in small quantities as a 
rule, has been sent free to trusted help- 
ers in many places throughout the States. 
"Modern Secret Societies" and "Finney 
on Masonry" were granted to the Theo- 
logical graduates of the Christian Re- 
formed and Congregational Seminaries 
as per requests received. 

One thousand dollars was accepted by 
your Board of Directors, and an N. C. A. 
Annuity Bond issued to the donor from 
whom they later received word of the 
great satisfaction which it gave him to be 
his own Executor. The experience of 
the Association during the past year 
confirms in the minds of the Board the 
wisdom of this plan of being one's own 
executor whenever possible. 

The need of a Financial Field Agent 



is as great as ever. W T e are continuing 
in prayer, and ask you to join with us, 
that God may send the man. The work 
ought to be greatly enlarged in every 
state and will be enlarged as soon as the 
God-sent man for Field Work is found. 

We have had the usual number of 
Volunteer Co-workers and their aggre- 
gate services have totaled large. Presi- 
dent Blanchard, as usual, has borne wit- 
ness from ocean to ocean against Se- 
cretism as he has against other evils con- 
cerning which the Church should give 
her voice. Is it not strange that there 
are any ministers of Jesus Christ who 
do not thus witness? They are chal- 
lenged to do so on every hand in their 
own communities and in the public press. 
During the past year a 32d degree Ma- 
son wrote us: "For the man who will 
not take the Church, it (Masonry) is a 
full substitute for it." The Masonic 
Supply Company of New York are han- 
dling "The Restored New Testament" 
with comments. It is a large book of 
over eight hundred pages and very nicely 
gotten up. It is an effort to harmonize 
the New Testament with the secret mys- 
teries of the ancients and, of course, 
with the lodge of today. Jesus is rep- 
resented as the Worthy Candidate, per- 
sonifying the Sun God. John, represents 
the Chief Priest of the Lessor Mysteries, 
personifying the Moon, God, etc., etc. 
The leading exponent of the Masonic 
lodge published last month an article on 
Masonic regeneration from which we 
take one sentence : "The three degrees 
in the Blue Lodge Masonry, exemplifies 
the assent of man from the unregener- 
ate and materialistic being, to a regen- 
erate Master-man." Since such senti- 
ments are reiterated again and again in 
print, isn't it strange that the ministers 
of our churches generally are so much 
slower to deal with the idolatry in their 
parishes than they are to deal with the 
idolatry of China, Africa and other dis- 
tant lands. 

Pardon this digression. We wish to 
add a word or two further about our co- 
workers during the past year. We count 
Rev. J. B. Phillips of Chattanooga, Ten- 
nessee, as one among the few whose tes- 
timony was far reaching and efficient to 
the Bible students and teachers of the 
South. Another whose labors and years 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



81 



of faithfulness should not be forgotten — 
the one to whom under God we owe our 
"Lizze Woods" — is Mrs. S. E. Bailey, a 
resident of Arkansas. We sent her at 
one time two thousand tracts and more 
recently one thousand more and we are 
satisfied that her work seasoned with 
prayer tells mightily for the truth. 

A New York pastor has shown dur- 
ing the year what can be done by em- 
phasizing Bible teaching versus Lodge 
teaching. His course led some nine of 
his members to cut loose from various 
lodges so that they were saved from the 
world, to serve it and the Church. A 
Tennessee pastor sends this word "Long 
live the N. C. A. and its organ, the 
Cynosure. We are getting together in 
east Tennessee with men and money 
and hope soon to engage the services of 
an able speaker. Help me all you can." 
Evangelist Fred St. Clair sends for a 
supply of N. C. A. tracts for distribu- 
tion during his evangelistic campaigns. 
He is only one of several of our evangel- 
istic helpers. A. G. Heisel of Wiscon- 
sin ' writes us : "We are in the fight 
against sin. We pray for you all daily." 
Rev; O. G. Burg of Nebraska : "Your 
society is performing a noble work. 
Never mind if we seem to be in the mi- 
nority — the truth always was." 

I wish I had time to report upon the 
work of everyone who has by interces- 
sory prayer, or by lectures, or sermons, 
or the distribution of tracts, or even of 
the passing on of their Cynosures after 
reading them, but I can only say that in 
my judgment they have been doing some 
of the most important missionary work 
of the day, and doing it here in their 
homeland where it requires the greatest 
self-surrender. But we need not mind, 
for the day is coming when each shall 
be rewarded according to the deeds done 
here in the body. This resolution how- 
ever should be with each of us, to en- 
deavor to accomplish more ourselves and 
enlist more in this divine warfare. Sa- 
tan's emissaries seem to grow more 
active as his time grows short. 

Perhaps some may think it not best 
to call attention at this time to the in- 
roads of the enemy upon Church and 
Home and State but if it stirs us to 
greater efforts to save these cherished 
and divine institutions, then it is well. 



Do you know these facts that the Ma- 
sons are organized into clubs in the 
governmental departments in Washing- 
ton ; Masons have organized the young 
men of our Universities into clubs ; the 
Masons in Y. M. C. A. service have be- 
gun similar organizations ; Secretary Mc- 
Adoo advised his railway clerks to or- 
ganize and become affiliated with Gom- 
per's Federation of Labor. The organi- 
zation of clerks and laborers on right 
principles is unobjectionable, but the ad- 
vice of Secretary McAdoo seems to me 
a guideboard to anarchy. W r hat will pre- 
vent public employees from striking? 
The Army. But why not unionize the 
Army ? You have learned from the pub- 
lic press what happened in Winnipeg, 
Canada, lately — postal clerks, firemen, 
policemen and other public employees 
struck. That is revolution ; Well did 
the public press say that "unless the 
government puts down with a resolute 
hand such strikes they merely abdicate, 
and thus force vigilance societies to take 
their places." 

The Lodge saw in the war conditions 
an apparent opportunity to attack the 
Association. The first move came from 
the State Council of Defense in Iowa 
and was transferred by them to the chair- 
man of said Council of Illinois. Then 
it seemed to have been referred to Wash- 
ington, D. C. The basis of the attack 
seemed to be that the National Christian 
Association was opposing the Masonic 
Lodge which of course was assumed to 
be for the nation's defense (?) in such 
perilous times ! The proof used seemed 
to be our tract which gives the obliga- 
tions of the Blue Lodge and calls atten- 
tion to the despotic character of the 
lodge and gives instances of its criminal 
activity. One Congressman in Washing- 
ton ordered a hundred copies which were 
sent him, after which we heard nothing 
more from the State Councils of De- 
fense. 

The United States postal department 
however was more successful in its 
move. In its consideration of the postal 
rates to be charged the Cynosure it re- 
quired a history of the Association ; a 
certified copy of its incorporation ; copies 
of the magazine and finally decided that 
we had no claim whatever to rates 
granted Christian magazines, nor to rates 



S2 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



as low as granted all lodge papers. We 
were ordered to use one-tenth less pa- 
per than we had been using, to cut off ex- 
changes, and any on the free list. Not- 
withstanding all these efforts and the re- 
fusal to allow the Christian Cynosure 
as low rates of postage as the lodge pa- 
pers and magazines were granted, we 
have closed the year with more subscrib- 
ers than we had at the end of last year, 
and instead of a deficit we are a few dol- 
lars on the profit side. The average 
issue of the Cynosure for the year was 
J. 450 copies per month. 

In the matter of Postal discrimination 
against the Christian Cynosure, refus- 
ing it the same privileges as to postage 
as granted other Christian magazines 
and Lodge papers, the Board voted that 
effort be made to obtain a statement or 
testimony from representative religious 
bodies, and leading officers of the various 
denominations, which are in accord with 
the work of the Association, to the effect 
that the Association is a Christian repre- 
sentative of their churches, and helpfui 
to them in their efforts to maintain their 
religious instructions against the secret 
lodge system, which they consider un- 
christian and inimical to the best inter- 
est of both church and state; and fur- 
thermore that they consider the Chris- 
tian Cynosure to be a Christian and 
religious publication of special value to 
them in their efforts to maintain their 
religious principles respecting secret so- 
cieties. A great service can be per- 
formed in this manner for the churches 
of every name. Will not those present 
representing different denominations un- 
dertake this service for the Cause? 

The $50,000 Endowment for the 
Christian Cynosure ought to be an ac- 
complished fact before our next Annual 
Aleeting. 

There is no question but that the late 
war has given the Lodge great opportuni- 
ties. The Elks claim that they found in 
the Salvation Army their best chance and 
now there is a sort of L T nion between 
them. The great hearted General William 
Booth, said to me "We do not allow aw 
officer of the Salvation Army to main- 
tain Masonic membership if we know 
it." General Booth is dead, and the lure 
of temporal help has captured the leaders 
and united them to the Lodge. Many of 



their officers are now Masons and I un- 
derstand many have become Elks. At 
least this is true that their drive for a 
$13,000,000 Home Service Fund is, as 
one man put it, "the Elks-Salvation Ar- 
my Drive.'' On Pennsylvania Street in 
Indianapolis, Indiana, you may see this 
sign : 

ELKS HEADQUARTERS 
SALVATION ARMY DRIVE.. 

The Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks 
has commanded the members of the Or- 
der throughout the country to assist the 
Salvation Army in creating its Home 
Service Fund, because said he "The re- 
lations between the two organizations 
have been so effective for good (Indiana- 
polis Nezvs, May 16th, 1919). 

Let us do more to enlighten the leaders 
of the Salvation Army and let us pray 
for them that the Spiritual life that char- 
acterized their great leader, General 
Booth, may be theirs. 

There is a brighter side though the 
background seems so dark. It was Jesus 
who said, "Fear not little flock. Jt is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you 
the Kingdom." There are many on the 
Lord*s side. We must arouse them to 
greater activity. If Christians are faith- 
ful they will set the standard for the 
world. What a mighty host of anti- 
secretists there are even here in Chicago. 
Over a hundred thousand among the 
Lutherans, not to mention the Christian 
Reformed, Free Methodist, and others. 
Many of you have never heard of The 
Church of God in Christ, which has its 
largest membership in the South, and 
yet everyone of their members are anti- 
secretists and many thousands of their 
members are seceders. 

Well, praise God for the victories of 
the past year. Let us continue to fight 
the good fight of faith looking for the 
"blessed hope and appearing of the glory 
of our great God and Savior Jesus 
Christ." 

Wm. I. Phielips. 



SECRETARY STODDARD TO AN- 
NUAL MEETING. 

Dear Friends and N. C. A. Co-laborers : 
I rejoice to bring you another greet- 
ing from the Eastern District. The year 
past has in many ways been exceedingly 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



83 



trying. Because of the goodness and 
mercy of God we labor on while multi- 
tudes are called hence. In this rapidly 
moving age we note conditions are ever 
changing. Whither are we going is 
the anxious inquiry of many thoughtful. 
Caught in the rising tide of worldliness 
the spiritual understanding is often car- 
ried far out to sea by waves that over- 
whelm. The great drift from the old 
gospel (the power of God unto Salva- 
tion) is indeed appalling. Opposition 
to Christ as an all sufficient Savior was 
never so manifest as to-day. Jf we may 
judge by what we see and hear there are 
a vast multitude of ministers and church- 
es claiming to represent Christianity who 
are in fact misrepresenting it. To il- 
lustrate. A pastor of a large Church 
(supposedly orthodox) inquired my chief 
objection to Masonry. I replied, "Its 
worship in which Jew and Gentile are 
expected to unite." He said without a 
moment's hesitation, "I believe I could 
unite in worship with a conscientious 
•Jew !" That man left to himself has al- 
ways been a failure is the testimony of 
all history, and yet men are ever trying 
to redeem the world without the Re- 
deemer ! Recognizing the world needs 
the Christ, my effort as ever has been to 
help those befogged in Lodge darkness 
to discover Him. Some appear to have 
the idea we are "just out trying to op- 
pose something." Our work is destruct- 
ive, and constructive. Weeds must be 
plowed under that the wheat may grow. 
The destructive secret lodge system must 
be put down that the Kingdom of Light 
and peace centered in Christ may be 
upbuilded. There is no doubt that this 
system contributes largely to the sad 
condition obtaining in the spiritual world. 
Its religion is not that of the Cross, but 
like the winding stream it seeks the 
path of least resistance. Mr. Mackey 
says they (the Masons) "Have a re- 
ligion in which all men agree." We 
know of course they have no such re- 
ligion for none exists. Yet the thought 
captivates. Throw to the winds, say 
they, all that separates, and have a uni- 
versal brotherhood. This has a pleasing 
sound. It appears generous, but it robs 
and would destroy the only Potentate. 
Jesus Christ refused the Devil's invita- 
tion to join in the creation of a universal 



brotherhood There can be no union of 
light and darkness, Christ and Baal. ^Ye 
are still with the minority, but like those 
in xXoah's Ark we feel safer than with 
those who refuse our company. If there 
are trials we are not like the Irishman 
who declared "he would rather drown 
than swim more than eight hours a day." 
In God's plan the "hard way" becomes 
the easy way. Those who avoid "the 
way of the Cross" find the ending of 
their way very unpleasant. Some are 
discovering that the Shepherd who leads 
to the green pastures beside the still 
waters is not found in lodges and please 
God, their numbers shall be increased 
as the light' of our Association continues 
to shine ! 

War conditions and influenza, with the 
many quarantines have made the usual 
holding of State Conventions seem im- 
practical, if not impossible, and reduced 
the number of lectures and other address- 
es. I report but 120 lectures and 56 other 
addresses given during the year. There 
has been an encouraging attendance and 
interest manifest. Recent information 
indicates increased interme the 
public mind against the railroads. 

I knew the reporter well. He used to 
supply us with milk, while he was a stu- 
dent in the high school, from his fam- 
ily's cow as a favor. His father was 
a lawyer and his mother a fine public 
spirited woman who did much good out 
here in Kenwood. In a word, the family 
was above reproach of any kind, but this 
yo:mg man was ambitious and did not 
realize, I suppose, what he was doing, 
and simply wanted to make a catchy 
reading article, and he did. 

Henry Percy. 

Chicago, October 24, 19 18. 

This letter, which appeared in The 
New York Sun, Oct. 26, 1918. reminds 
a reader of what Thurlow Weed relates 
on pages 6 and 7 of his account of the 
Morgan Abduction, where he says : 
"When leaving the room, Ebenezer 
Griffin, Esq., a prominent lawyer em- 
ployed as counsel for Masons, who was 
playing billiards, turned to me cue in 
hand saying, 'Well. Weed, what will you 
do for a Morgan now?' to which I re- 
plied. 'That is a good enough Morgan for 
us till you bring back the one you carried 
off/ On the following morning the 
Daily Advertiser, a Masonic organ, con- 
tained a paragraph charging me with 
having boastingly said, that the body in 
question 'was a good enough Morgan" un- 
til after the election.' That perversion 
went the rounds of the Masonic and 
Democratic press, awakening much pop- 
ular indignation and subjecting me to 
denunciations in speeches and resolu- 
tions at political meetings and conven- 
tions. Explanations were disregarded. 
The maxim that 'Falsehood will travel 
miles while Truth is drawing on it- 
boots' was then verified. I suffered 
obloquy and reproach from that wicked 
perversion, for nearly half a century. 
Forty years afterwards the editor of the 
paper who originated the calumny, by 
a series of pecuniary reverses, was com- 
pelled to apply to me for assistance. I 
avenged the great wrong he had done 
me, by obtaining for him a situation in 
the customhouse.'* 



INTER ARMA VERITAS. 

An address with this title was deliv- 
ered before the Columbia University 



88 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, June, 1916, 
and adopted as the August issue of the 
series published by the American Asso- 
ciation for International Conciliation. 
The address is worthy both of the dig- 
nified body of scholarly alumni forming 
the audience, and of the orator of such 
an occasion, William Allan Neilson, pro- 
fessor of English in Harvard University. 
So long as the edition holds out it will 
be sent upon request, which should be 
addressed to the Secretary of the Asso- 
ciation already named. There is no 
charge, even for postage. 

"It is the aim of the Association to 
avoid, as far as possible, contentious 
questions, and in particular questions re- 
lating to the domestic policy of any 
given nation. Attention is to be fixed 
rather upon those underlying prineiples 
of international law, international con- 
duct, and international organization, 
which must be agreed upon and enforced 
by all nations if peaceful civilization is 
to continue and to be advanced." 

One is reminded of Honorary Chan- 
cellor George William Curtis' commence- 
ment oration at Union College, in 1877, 
on "The public duty of educated men," 
when this Harvard professor does that 
duty faithfully at Columbia, in address- 
ing a gathered body of men who have 
been sent forth from the classes of many 
years into the active world. He fitly re- 
minds this body of experienced scholars 
that "It is not truthful reproach, but in- 
justice, that rankles and keeps the sore 
open from generation to generation. And 
however passionately we feel on either 
side, we can never help its cause by the 
slander of its enemy. Let us remember 
for the sake of the future, that even the 
man who gives himself mistakenly to a 
bad cause deserves our sympathy. 
Toll ! Let the great bells toll 

Till the clashing air is dim. 
Did they wrong this parted soul? 

We will make it up to him. 
Toll ! Let him never guess what work they 
set him to. 

Laurel, laurel, yes ; 

He did what they bade him do. 
Praise, and never a whispered hint but 
the fight he fought was good ; never a 
word that the blood on his sword was 
his country's own heart's blood." 

Near the end of this noble oration he 
names "the writer who, among all the 
leaders of thought in Europe, has alone 



risen to the height of this great occa- 
sion, . . . that great lover of truth 
who has in the midst of war abated no 
jot of his allegiance to truth. . . , 
'For the finer spirits of Europe' he 
writes, 'there are two dwelling places: 
our earthly fatherland, and that other 
City of God. Of the one we are the 
guests ; of the other, the builders. To 
the one, let us give our lives and our 
faithful hearts; but neither family, 
friend, nor fatherland, nor aught that 
we have has power over the spirit. The 
spirit is the light. It is our duty to lift 
it above tempests and thrust aside the 
clouds that threaten to obscure it ; to 
build higher and stronger, dominating 
the injustice and hatred of nations, the 
walls of that city wherein the souls of 
the whole world may assemble.' ' : 



ONE YEAR AGO. 

(From summary compiled by Louis 
Tracy, the novelist, now a member of 
the British war mission.) 
The British casualties in officers and 

men are as follows : 

August, 1914, to the end of 

1915 550.000 

In the year 19 16 650,000 

In the year 19 17 800,000 

In six months of the present 

year (estimated) 500,000 



2,500,000 

Of these at least one-fifth must be 
counted among the dead. 

More than another half-million are 
so maimed and broken that they can 
never again he counted as useful citi- 
zens of a world where ; 'i a man must 
work if he would eat and, therefore, 
live. 

If the dead and wholly-shattered 
youth of the British Empire could march 
down Fifth avenue in platoons of twen- 
ty men in a rank the host could not 
pass from Central Park to Washington 
Square in ten long summer days. 

During one month in France in 191 7 
Britain had 27,000 men killed. 

In the first twelve months of the war 
Britain had 6,660 officers and 95,000 
men killed. 

During the month of April this year, 
as the result of the great battles which 
began on March 21, 1918, Britain had 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



89 



over 10,000 casualties among officers 
alone. 

Oxford and Cambridge gave 8,000 of 
their undergraduates to the army in the 
first year of the war. 

Britain has lost nearly every officer 
and man of that small but superbly effi- 
cient army which she threw into France 
early in August, 19 14. 

Britain has fought on seventeen 
fronts during the last four years. 

Her troops have been to the fore in 
Belgium, France, Italy, Serbia, Greece, 
Russia, Palestine, Mesopotamia, China 
and North, East and West Africa, to 
name only the main theaters of the war. 

Britain and her colonies have raised 
7,500,000 soldiers, and of this total Eng- 
land's (not Great Britain's) proportion 
is 60 per cent. 

One man in every seven and a half 
of the population of England is in the 
army. 

The same ratio holds good of Scot- 
land. 

Wales has contributed one man in ev^ 
ery ten and a fifth, Ireland one man in 
every twenty-six and a third and the 
overseas dominions one man in every 
fifteen. 

Those are the cold, hard facts as to 
man power in the army, while the fol- 
lowing table tells its own story and re- 
futes another Hun lie : 

Relative proportions of men in Brit- 
ish forces and of casualties sufTered by 
each part of the British Empire, exclu- 
sive of India, Africa, etc., to November, 
1917. 

Per Cent Per Cent 
of Armed of 

Forces Casualties 
Eng. and Wales . . 70 76 

Scotland 8 10 

Ireland 6 6 

Dom. and Col. . . 16 8 

In heavy guns alone Britain manufac- 
tured during the third year of the war 
twenty-seven times as many as in the 
first year and 220 times as much ammu- 
nition. 

The expenditure of rifle ammunition 
per week is now sixty-five times greater 
than the average weekly expenditure 
during the first ten months. of the war. 



The output of machine guns has been 
increased thirty-nine times. 

Two thousand miles of railway track, 
1,000 locomotives and many tens of 
thousands of wagons have been shipped 
abroad. 

The ministry of munitions handles 
50,000,000 articles per week and sends 
abroad 60,000 consignments per week. 

In addition to over ninety national ar- 
senals, Great Britain now has 5,046 
government-controlled factories, all 
working day and night on munitions and 
supplies. 

In October, 191 7, about 2,000,000 men 
and about 700,000 women were engaged 
in munition work proper. 

In July, 1917, the number of women 
employed in government work of all 
kinds stood at 1,065,000. According to 
the board of trade "Labor Gazette" of 
November 16, 1917, the number had 
arisen to 1,302,000 before the latter date. 

Women do 60 to 70 per cent of all 
the machine work on shells, fuses and 
trench warfare supplies and have con- 
tributed 1,450 trained mechanics to the 
royal flying corps. In one way or an- 
other about 5,000,000 British women are 
working for their country in her need, 
many of whom never worked in their 
lives before. 

Britain's ships have kept/ open the 
ocean highways and penned the Hun in 
his few protected harbors. 

The navy has tripled its personnel and 
doubled its fighting armament. 

It has transported over the face of 
the waters 13,000,000 men, 2,000,000 
horses and mules, 500,000 vehicles, 25,- 
000,000 tons of explosives, 51,000,000 
tons of oil and fuel and 130,000,000 tons 
of food and other stores. — Chicago Eve- 
ning Post, Aug. 3, 1918. 



It is the man who tries to make the 
best of both worlds who make nothing 
of either. 



If Bible-reading be like getting your 
friend's letter, then prayer is like a 
visit from your friend. 



( )pportuni.ty is often like a pin in the 
sweepings; you catch sight of it just 
as it flies away from you and gets buried 
again. 



90 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



A Christian, when he makes a good 
profession, should be sure to make his 
profession good. 



Every day, as it rises out of eternity, 
keeps putting to each of us this ques- 
tion afresh : "What will you do before 
this day has sunk into eternity and 



nothingness again v 



J^etoS ai®uv WBovk 

We cannot give you even a taste of 
each of the good things enjoyed at our 
Annual Meeting, but you will agree with 
us that the samples given in this num- 
ber are not disappointing. Letters to 
that meeting, and addresses and reports 
will appear in one or more of the fol- 
lowing numbers of the Cynosure. 

We wish to thank God and you who 
were moved to send in so liberally for 
the expenses of the Conference and also, 
since it closed, for the work to be done. 



It is gratifying to report the reception 
of 211 new subscribers to the Cynosure 
during the first twenty days of June. 
The magazine goes to press now, but we 
hope you who read will keep the result 
rolling steadily forward. 



HARVESTING. 

BY REV. J. B. VAN DEN HOEK. 

Having received my appointment from 
the National Christian Association to 
give lectures on the "Secret Empire," 
whenever I could, I deemed it my' duty to 
prepare for this work. 

Of course, as I am resting from regu- 
lar work in the congregation, that I may 
regain my strength, I shall only be able 
to give a lecture now and then. 

As the Harrison Consistory of the 
Christian Reformed Church (Douglas 
Co., South Dakota) asked me to fill their 
pulpit on the i8th of May, I decided at 
once to give lectures at Corsica, Harri- 
son, New Holland and Platte. 

I always send a kind invitation to par- 
take of and be present* at our meeting, 
to the Consistories of the "Reformed 
Church of America," not failing to men- 
tion, that my dear brother, Rev. John 
F. Heemstra of the Roseland (Chicago) 



Reformed Church is now President of 
the National Christian Association. 
Difficult is Every Beginning! 

On May 2ist I gave my first regular 
_ lecture in the Harrison church. The 
farmers' work being already late they 
could not all come on account of the 
rush in corn planting. The Elder of the 
sister church had "forgotten" to read my 
invitation from the pulpit the previous 
Sunday. The man who had to light the 
lamps for our evening lecture was too 
busy to come. And so it happened that 
I spoke for the first time in my life in 
the dark. Trying circumstances indeed 
for the first lecture. The only light was 
a small lamp on the pulpit. But I could 
not see my audience. The people listened 
well, and in the dark for one and one 
half hours. Rev. A. Guikema remarked 
after the meeting, that the absence of 
light was typical of the facts. He said, 
"You were speaking on the 'works of the 
darkness." You gave light standing in 
the light. But you spoke to the people, 
who sat in the darkness while you were 
trying to persuade them to come to the 
light !" Sure, we can always find some- 
thing to rejoice over. I got some 
Cynosure subscriptions here and a col- 
lection of quite $18.00. 

After the sermon on the Sabbath I 
gave my next lecture at Corsica, five 
miles east of Harrison. A very full 
house greeted me here both in the after- 
noon and evening. Many had come from 
all the surrounding country to hear. A 
company of secret society men, I was 
told, were outside the church before the 
opened windows. Some of their 

"brethren" were inside. The Lord was 
with us. I got some Cynosure sub- 
scriptions here. The previous week a 
collection had been taken here for the 
N. C. A., but the Consistory gave an- 
other. The service call brought us about 
$37, and the lecture about $13 additional. 
That means over $60 for our Cause from 
Corsica. 

The third lecture was given at New 
Holland. This congregation is building 
a new church costing $30,000. The old 
edifice was filled with an attentive 
audience. I got here thirty new Cyno- 
sure subscribers and a collection of 
quite $37.00 with an extra gift from the 
Consistory of $5.00. 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



91 



The fourth and last lecture of this 
series was given at Platte, Charles Mix 
County, near the bluffs of the Missouri 
River. "The night was cold and dreary, 
and the winds seemed never, never 
weary" But the church was filled to the 
corners. Here I took fifteen Cynosure 
subscriptions and a collection was handed 
to me of $30.00. 

In all the four churches mentioned 
were many, who thought that a lecture 
and special information on Secret So- 
cieties was not necessary for them. They 
say : "We shall never belong to them 
and our children are educated to keep 
out!" But wiser men see the danger 
ahead. Contrary minds were changed 
after the lecture in every instance. In 
Corsica and Platte many of the young 
Hollanders have already drifted into the 
Lodge, although as yet a very few, if 
any, from the Christian Reformed 
Church. I must mention, that I got a 
special encouragement from Rev. H. M. 
Petterson of the Reformed Church at 
Corsica. He had lectured against the 
lodge in Indiana, he told me, and was 
preparing to lecture for his home flock 
now. 

In addition to some eighty Cynosures, 
I had the privilege to find buyers of some 
twenty-five copies of "Modern Secret So- 
cieties" by our great Wheaton College 
President, Dr. Charles A. Blanchard. 

Indeed heaven seemed to smile on this 
trip. The "exercise" was enjoyed. Some 
thirty families of the writers relatives 
were visited. My wife, who was just re- 
cuperating from an operation, was with 
me, watching if "anything might go 
wrong." 

Let us sow, sow all the time, while the 
day is still here. The night is coming. 
"The latter days" are upon us. The 
great Apostacy is felt. Dark clouds are 
gathering for the Church, and many 
children of the Kingdom love slumber- 
ing! 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S MONTHLY 
REPORT. 

REV. F. J. DAVIDSON. 

Since my last letter I have been privi- 
leged to hold a Bible Institute eight days 
and preach and lecture at Plymouth Rock 
Baptist Church, Rev. A. L. Davis, pastor, 



Plaquemine, Louisiana. We held three 
services daily. The noon and three p. m. 
services where the Bible was read and 
made plain were very well attended but 
the night services were crowded. The 
people with few exceptions seemed 
anxious to hear and learn the truth. 
Secret societies, saloons, Sunday base 
ball -md kindred evils were made plain. 
Although secret societies are very strong 
in Plac|uemine and in Plymouth Rock- 
Church, not an insult was offered or a 
harsh word spoken during the eight days 
A few of the most ardent secretists 
showed a bit of unrest, but they too fol- 
lowed up the meeting. Pastor Davis en- 
dorsed all that I said and urged his peo- 
ple to live a consecrated life for jesus. 
The whole congregation unanimously 
invited me to return. Their offering was 
the most liberal one received in twenty 
years except that from the Second Bap- 
tist Church of St. Patrick, Louisiana. 
I was received with open arms every- 
where and had a special invitation to 
dinner every day. Rev. I. S. Jones, pas- 
tor of St. Peter Baptist, the largest con- 
gregation in Plaquemine very cordially 
invited me to conduct a similar meeting 
later on at his church. The harvest truly 
is ripe, but the laborers are few. I have 
also assisted in dedicating the Israel Mis- 
sion Baptist Church, Rev, Sypian, pastor, 
of New Orleans. 

I was pleasantly surprised two weeks 
ago about 10:30 p. m. by some thirty 
or forty of Central Baptist Church, of 
which I am pastor, with a quantity of 
assorted groceries, all of which Mrs. 
Davidson and I highly appreciate and 
give God thanks. Surely our God is 
good to them who love and serve Him. 
The cornerstone of Central Baptist 
Church was laid by gospel ministers. 
May 25th. Services were very impres- 
sive. The speakers impressed the people 
to be true to God and to live the Christ 
life as the only sure remedy for lynching 
and all other barbarities. The peo- 
ple's eyes are gradually being opened to 
the evil of secret societies, the saloons 
and kindred evils. The National Chris- 
tian Association could meet a great and 
pressing need in the disseminating of 
truth on the lodge question if funds were 
sufficient to establish a branch work in 
this city. I am yours for a pure church. 



92 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



If God has given us a revelation of 
His will, whether in the laws of our na- 
ture or in a kingdom of grace, that reve- 
lation not only illuminates but .'binds. — 
W. E. Gladstone. 




LIZZIE WOODS ROBERSON. 

"LIZZIE WOODS' MONTHLY 
LETTER." 

This finds me again at the home of 
the Cynosure. I went to Omaha the 
3rd of April and worked there till 1 
came to the Annual Meeting here for the 
5th and 6th of June. 

While making a few house to house 
visits in Omaha I met a little woman who 
knew that I handled all kinds of rituals. 
She said, "Sister Roberson, do you sell 
the Masonic ritual?" Yes. She said,. 
"My husband is wrapped up in Masonry 
and says that nobody dare expose it." I 
said well, he does not know the Scripture, 
Luke 12 : 2. God has had men revealing 
these secrets ever since the Masons killed 
Morgan in 1826 and sunk. his body in the 
Niagara River. All of this dark plot 
was brought to light, and honest minis- 
ters of the Gospel have been exposing it 



ever since, and many honest Christian 
men and women have given their hearts 
to God and come out — for our God says : 
"Come out (2 Cor. 6:14-18. Rev. 18:4). 
She said, "Well, I want two rituals, the 
Odd-Fellows and the Masons." I went 
home and got the books for her and she 
told her husband about having them 
when he came home. He came right over 
to my house and called for me. I was 
expecting to hear something from him, 
but not so soon. When I came down- 
stairs and spoke to him he said, "Sister 
Roberson, I am so sorry you sold my wife 
these lodge books. I am a cripple ; and 
I am the Secretary of my lodge ; and I 
have little children ; and I am trying to 
leave them something to live on when I 
die ; and you have broken peace in my 
family by letting my wife have those 
books." 

I said, "Well, you sell your soul to 
ihe devil in order to leave something for 
your children, 'Wnat shall it profit a 
man if he shall gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul, or what shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul.' " He said, 
"Mrs. Roberson, I am so sorry ! I am 
so sorry." He was backing out of the 
door and kept saying, "I am so sorry, I 
am so sorry you let my wife have those 
books." My husband looked at me and 
laughed. We could not help from laugh- 
ing to see him, himself exposing Ma- 
sonry. He acknowledged that the book 
was genuine, and if the Masons learned 
that, they are sworn to kill him. He has 
sworn that he will not in any way make 
known the secret of Masonry. I was 
sorry for him and sorry to see what a 
fool the Devil can make even of a man 
who claims to be a Christian. His wife 
does not want him to sell his soul in or- 
der to leave money for her and the chil- 
dren ! It was reported to me that a white 
man said, he did not want the lodge 
secret exposed. He said, "I am a 
Shriner and that is my church. It is a 
wonder that the Masons let that woman 
live so long. 1 ' So Masons are exposing 
their own "secrets" and showing you 
what the principles of Masonry are. 

It is a great pity that sensible men will 
get down to an idol heathen worship like 
Masonry, where men are taught to kill 
each other on account of an oath. It is 
pure heathenism. Think of preachers 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



93 



of the Gospel joining in such Baal wor- 
ship. There are only a few preachers 
who have the boldness to preach the 
whole truth to a dying world. 

I left Omaha the 30th of May enroute 
to Berne, Indiana. Mr. A. J. Neuhaiiser, 
the secretary of the Christian Temper- 
ance Society, wanted me to speak on the 
lodge question the 3rd of June. This 
Temperance Society was organized in 
Berne, Indiana,, forty years ago and we 
could see how this meeting, once a 
month, has affected the young people in 
Berne. Whiskey, tobacco, and motion 
picture shows are things of the past. I 
never saw a man or boy smoking while 
I was in Berne. There are very few 
lodges in Berne. There are four churches 
in the town. This great Temperance So- 
ciety is held once a month in the First 
Mennonite Church, the finest building in 
eastern Indiana with a seating capacity 
of two thousand. Rev. P. R. Schroeder 
is the pastor of this great church. He 
is a young man, but is not afraid to stand 
against any wrong. It was very amus- 
ing to me and my daughter when we got 
off the train at Berne. We got there one 
day ahead of the appointed time so Mr. 
Neuhauser was not expecting us until 
the 3rd. We soon found the way to the 
People's Store, of which Mr. Neuhauser 
is the proprietor. When we walked in- 
to the store he met us and asked, "Is 
this Mrs. Roberson?" After introducing 
my daughter and I to all the clerks in hi? 
store he took us out to his home. Sister 
Neuhauser bade us welcome to her home 
sO cosy and clean. What amused us 
was that we were the only black people 
in Berne. Some children there had never 
seen a black face before, but these peo- 
ple are really Christian, and their chil- 
dren are trained up in the admonition of 
the Lord, and hence not once was a child 
saucy to us while we were in Berne. It 
is a beautiful little town. 

I spoke on the 3rd of June to the Tem- 
perance Society. Sixteen young ladies 
in the choir furnished the music for the 
occasion. Their voices were beautiful. 
Mr. Musselmann, the President of the 
Temperance Society who is also the Edi- 
tor of The Bcmc Witness was the leader. 
The whole congregation joined in the 
song and the great pipe organ sounded 
out its beautiful music. It was grand! 



The congregation listened attentively to 
my poor lecture. They gave me a good 
offering. 

At the close of the meeting Mrs. S. 
J. Grabill, the pastor's wife of the Mis- 
sionary Church, invited me to stay over 
the next evening and lecture in their 
church. We decided to stay, and were 
made welcome by sister Grabill and all 
the members of their beautiful little 
church. We had a good audience. I saw- 
so many old fathers in the congregation 
that said, These people are temperate 
and take care of their health and live to a 
great old age ; and the young people all 
looked healthy and rosy. These young 
people as well as the old take pleasure 
in the church. They love God and not 
the picture show, saloon, tobacco, house 
of ill-fame — nothing of that kind in 
Berne. I enjoyed myself with these peo- 
ple of God. They also took a good col- 
lection for me. 

We visited the Women's Missionary 
Sewing Society on Wednesday, the 4th 
of June. These women of the Men- 
nonite church sew quilt-blocks all the 
year and then meet on a certain 
day in the old church and make them in- 
to quilts for foreign missions .and for 
the Indians and for the poor. These wom- 
en were just as busy as bees all day long. 
I do not know how many quilts were 
made that day but it must have been two 
hundred or more.. The sweet little girls 
took pleasure in waiting on the women 
while they were quilting. Mrs. Eli A. 
Luginbill is the President and Mrs. P. 
R. Schroeder is Vice-President. They 
asked me to sing and teach a lesson, so 
I had my daughter read Prow 31 : 10-31 
after which we prayed and sang "Lift 
Him LTp and I Will Draw All Men Unto 
Me." All asked me to come again. No- 
body got angry at what I said about 
lodges and whisky and tobacco and mo- 
tion picture shows. These good people 
of Berne do not want Baal worship 
among their children. One thing about 
the preachers in Berne, they keep the 
devil's trap out of Berne because they 
are faithful in their testimony and lift 
up Jesus. The N. C. A. literature is 
read by the people there and many take 
the Cynosure. 

Shine on sweet Cynosure and keep the 
peoples' eyes open. Many wanted to 



04 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



July, 1919. 



meet me because they have been read- 
ing my letters in the Cynosure for many 
years. Go on. Dr. Blanchard and 
Brother Phillips and Brother^ Stoddard, 
and Brother Davidson, and the Board 
of Directors and dear Sister Kellogg, the 
secretary. Read Dent. 7 : 6-10, and shout 
glory! 

Yours for the work of Jesus, 

(Mrs.) Lizzie Roberschst. 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S MONTHLY 
REPORT. 

REV. W. 13. STODDARD. 

Responding to the Western invitation 
I am giving the month of June largely 
to the Iowa work. This is a splendid 
country, very rich in resources. Banks 
are reported to be overloaded with de- 
posits. Farms are selling for unheard of 
prices. 

The proprietor of the hotel where 1 
stop states that all are after the "al- 
mighty dollar." Some doubtless join the 
lodges thinking it will help them in theii 
pursuit. How often they discover their 
mistake when it is too late. I met a Ma- 
son dying with rheumatism, likely 
brought on by intemperate habits. He is 
reported to have been very rough and 
profane during his younger life. He 
keeps a poor accommodation for the 
travelling public, getting a much needed 
little to keep him and his from the Poor- 
house. He appeared to be anything but 
happy. In short he is another evidence 
that "the way of the transgressor is 
hard." Masonry never helps people to 
die happy ! 

I have a series of lectures arranged for 
Reformed and Christian Reformed 
Churches in this section. If they "pan 
out" as arranged, I speak at Leighton, 
Pella, Otley, Prairie City and Des 
Moines. There has been much rain in 
this section and it is falling as I write. 
Transportation is slow for the man ac- 
customed to the Eastern trolley system. 
The auto helps when not stuck in the 
mud ! Domine A. H. Brat, now pastor 
of the Christian Reformed Church at 
Eddyville, took your agent in his ma- 
chine for a trip of over thirty miles to 
visit State President Malcolm and others 
at Albia. Brother Brat has done and is 
doing much for our interests in this state. 

I am to preach in the First Reformed 



Church, Pella, and am placed over 
against attractive speakers here for the 
Commencement of the Reformed Col- 
lege. The people could not all get into 
one church house, hence it is well to 
have at least two services. 

Notwithstanding the statement of an 
Elder that your representative is not 
needed here, it is my judgment that he is. 
This Elder gave as the reason that their 
church would not receive lodge people. 
Fie thought I should go to churches 
where the members have dances and be- 
long to lodges. In our conversation it 
developed that this church had been ac- 
customed to take up a collection annually 
in support of the N. C. A. work, but 
since they had adopted the "budget sys- 
tem" they had forgotten to provide any 
support for our work. He thought they 
might do so another year now that atten- 
tion had been called to the omission. He 
told of a son of one of the members 
who went to war and returned a lodge- 
man. He surely did not make it clear 
that this church was so "rooted and 
grounded" in antilodge truth, that it 
needed none. As well talk of not pre- 
senting other Gospel truths, because the 
church already believes them ! 

Following my last report I worked in 
Chicago and vicinity seeking to con- 
tribute support to our Annual Meeting. 
Over twenty lectures and addresses were 
made in churches of many friendly 
denominations. I was especially glad to 
take the antilodge message to the stu- 
dents of Wheaton College and the North 
Park Seminary ( Swedish Congrega- 
tional). Attendance was good at meet- 
ings in the First Christian Reformed, 
Englewood, and Second Christian Re- 
formed, Roseland, also Sixty-second St 
Reformed Churches, all in Chicago. I 
spoke in several Mennonite Missions, al- 
so Mission of the Brethren in Christ in 
Chicago. Meetings in the Central and 
Sixty-second Street Free Methodist 
Churches gave cheering help. Em- 
manuel Lutheran Church, Glenview, 111., 
turned out well at the week night lecture 
notwithstanding farmers were driven, 
and driving their work. These people 
supported splendidly in Cynosure sub- 
scriptions. Their kind hospitality gave 
new evidence that it was not necessary 
to join the lodge for help when one trav- 



July, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



95 



els. At a noon-meeting of the "Helping 
Hand Mission," conducted in the N. C. 
A.'s building, the writer was permitted 
to help in "throwing out the life line* 
to those in need. 

Liberal contributions were received 
from churches in which I spoke which 
will be acknowledged in the Cynosure 
in due time. For these and all the bless- 
ings I am thankful. Expenses are in- 
creased but God sustains thus far. 

After finishing the work planned foi 
the prairie country 1 shall look again 
towards the eastern hills. The N. C. 
A.'s Annual Meeting, while not as largely 
attended as some, was an inspiration. It 
inspires one to come into touch with con- 
secrated men and women who are living 
for the advancement of Christ's Church 
and the coming Kingdom. 



Rev. Paul G. Prokopy of Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, writes: "I read every 
issue of the Cynosure with delight. Let 
us not weaken in our fight against the 
lodge. It's not an easy one, but certain- 
ly a just one. There is enough danger of 
the line of demarkation between Chris* 
tians and the world becoming less dis- 
tinct without the poison of the lodge."' 



Une-of our many friends in Canada, 
Edward K. Leep, writes: "I am always 
glad to receive the Cynosure. It ever 
rings true to the principles of true 
Christianity. I appreciate the work of 
all the brothers and sisters who contrib- 
ute to the Cynosure, but the articles of 
Dr. Blanchard alone are really worth 
many times the subscription price. Keep 
up the fight in spite of the strength of 
the enemy. Ultimately the victory will 
be on our side, as to our King and Leader 
is given all power in Heaven and on 
earth." 



Mr. S. Y. Orr, one of our coworkers 
in Colorado, wrote recently that one 
young man was saved from the lodge 
through the distribution of our cata- 
logues which Mr. Orr had given out. 

Mr. G. W. Smith of Greentown, In- 
diana, is one of the N. C. A.'s faithful 
friends. He writes: "I recently heard 
an Austrian evangelist who was holding 
a series of meetings in our town say 



from the pulpit, that he believed thai 
nine-tenths of the church members in 
Greentown were heading for hell. Any 
one knowing that we have a population 
of about fifteen hundred, with ten lodges 
(the Masonic in the lead), and that prac- 
tically all of the leaders in the lodges are 
.leaders in the churches, need not be 
surprised at the above statement by the 
evangelist." 



Another Canadian friend, Mr. J. II. S, 
Kerr, sends the following encouraging 
words, "I thank God for what you are 
doing to combat this modern heathenism 
masquerading as ideal Christianity." 



Mr. John Hoogenboom of Goshen, In- 
diana, and a Cynosure reader for many 
years, writes : "I like your magazine and 
hope that the Lord will bless your work 
and the workers." 



Richard S. Beal, pastor of the First 
Baptist Church in Tucson, Arizona, 
when sending for some literature says 
that he has a tremendous lodge problem 
to face in Tucson and wishes us to re- 
member him and other Christian workers 
there, in prayer. 



Richard McGregor of Soldiers' Home, 
California, and a newspaper reporter of 
thirty years' experience, when sending 
for our literature, writes : "I can do more 
showing people how r silly this thing is 
than any other way. You can laugh 
them out easier than by any other 
method. They set such great store on 
their deep 'secrets,' and that attracts 
many w r ho would hesitate if the work 
was secret no more. I am going to try 
to do some real erTective w©rk out here." 



Mrs. Alice A. Miller, of Stratford, 
Iowa, was for many years an active co- 
worker and interested in the progress of 
the work under the auspices of the Na- 
tional Christian Association. She en- 
tered upon her heavenly rest in May last 
in her 72nd year. The sympathies of the 
Association are extended to the husband 
and family. 

The glad day of our reunion with our 
honored brothers and sisters is fast ap- 
proaching and so while sorrowful we are 
yet rejoicing. 



STANDARD WORKS 

ON 

Secret Societies 

FOR SALE BY THE 

National Christian Association, 
MODERN PROPHETS of BAAL 

OR 

WATCHMEN on ZION'S WALLS 

By President C. A. Blanchard. 

This is a tract especially intended for ministers. The term Baalism in referring to 
Masonry is used figuratively. " If we say Lord to any one who is not God, then we 
are worshipers of Baal and if we, who are religious teachers, call any one Lord 
except the true God, then we are prophets of Baal." This tract, in addition to setting 
forth the real relation of Masonic ministers to a heathen system, also gives the reasons 
why Christian preachers become prophets of Baal. 

In the appendix there is a chapter on Masonic Theology, taken from Mackey's "Masonic 
Ritualist", the author being the well known Past General Grand High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States. There is also A Word to Bible Students, by Dean 
J. M. Gray, D. D., of the Moody Bible Institute, and there is a page of Bible quotations 
which are important in this connection. 

Thirty-two pages; Single copies three cents, per hundred, $2.00 postpaid. 8 

Address 

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago Ills. 



Knights of Columbus 

ILLUSTRATED 

A COMPLETE RITUAL AND HISTORY OF THE FIRST 
THREE DEGREES, INCLUDING ALL SECRET 
"WORK", FULLY ILLUSTRATED BY A FORMER 
MEMBER OF THE ORDER. 

This work gives the proper position of each officer during the 
meetings, the proper manner of conducting the business of 
the Knights of Columbus, order of opening and closing 
of the Lodge, dress of candidates, ceremony of initiation; giving 
the signs, grips, pass words, etc. Convenient pocket size. 

Paper Gove: s - - - $ .75 
Cloth - 1.00 

National Christian Association 

850 W. Madison Street CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 




VOL, LII. 



CHICAGO, AUGUST, 1919. 



No. 4, 




(Testimony page 117.) 

Herman Newmark. 



t 




OFFICIAL ORGAN, NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
10 CENT/ A COPY ESTABLISHED 1868 LOO AYEAR. 



=51 



Wheaton Cnlleo-p I ;h 



ran/ 



Vol. VII. No. 4. 



CHICAGO 



AUGUST, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised, 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
fit th9 Po3t Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
\lar:.i 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



Herman Newmark, Photograph Cover 

Masonry and Wilson 99 

The New Soldier Organization 99 

Undue Credit — The Fortnightly Review 100 
"My Father Works and I Work," by 

Pres. Chas. A. Blanchard 100 

The American Legion, by J. R. Kaye, 

LL. D 104 

An Antisecret Christian Daily........... 106 

An Important Request, by Rev. J. Clover 

Monsma 106 

Christianity vs. Secret Societies, by Rev. 

George E. Cooprider 107 

Rev. George E. Cooprider, Photograph. . 108 

Letters to the Annual Meeting 112 

Minutes of N. C. A. Annual Meeting, June 

5 and 6, 1919..... 115 

Testimonies republished from July 
Cynosure: 

Mr. Herman Newmark 117 

Rev. Allan Crabtree : 121 



News of Our Work : 
Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W. B. 

Stoddard ; 123 

Southern Agent's Report, Rev. F. J. 

Davidson 124 

"Lizzie Woods' Letter" 125 

Contributions 126 

Testimonies of Statesmen 127 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 

LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, 31 18 Fourteenth 
St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 
South Dakota. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 
New Orleans, La. 

Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 
St., Argenta, Ark. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
aaved. 
K —Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 





lit 


Jesus answered 


him: I 


spake 


openly 


to the 


world, 


and in 


secret 


have I 


said nothing. 


—Joh 


n 18:20 



MASONRY AND WILSON, 

We have published quite fully all com- 
munications that have come to us con- 
cerning the relation of President Wilson 
to secret societies and yet we are re- 
quested to give further information if 
possible. We are convinced that Presi- 
dent Wilson is not a Mason. It is true 
that a communication was addressed to 
him while at Paris by French Masons in 
which he was addressed as their Illus- 
trious Brother Wilson. This does not 
prove that Mr. Wilson is a Mason, it 
simply shows that the French Masons 
seem to take it for granted that he is a 
Mason. Following is a copy of a letter 
received last May : 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington. 

May 14, 1919. 
My dear Mr. Phillips : 

I have your letter of May 12th. The Presi- 
dent is not a member of any secret organiza- 
tion or fraternity except a college fraternity. 
Sincerely yours, 
(Signed) Jos. Tumulty, 
Secretary to the President. 
Mr. Wm. I. Phillips, 
850 W. Madison Street, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

Are we to suppose that the French 
Masons know more about President Wil- 
son's connection with the Order than 
does his Secretary or the leading Ma- 
sonic journals of America? 



THE NEW SOLDIER ORGANIZATION. 

We have been advised at the headquar- 
ters of the American Legion here that 
an honorable discharge from the late 
army is all that an ex-soldier needs to 
become a member — that there is to be no 
secrecy, oath, or religious ritual. This 
is a sensible and highly patriotic atti- 
tude which the American Legion or- 
ganizers have taken. 

The Reformed Presbyterians sent two 
delegates to the national meeting called 



to organize the American Legion at St. 
Louis, Missouri, last May, namely, Rev. 
T. C. McKnight and Rev. O. S. Thomp- 
son. The Lutherans, representing a mil- 
lion and a half antisecrets, also sent a 
Committee, the secretary of which was 
Rev. Alfred Doerffler. These Commit- 
tees were cordially received and sat in 
the Convention and did what little they 
could as outsiders for the thousands of 
soldier boys who went from these de- 
nominations and other similar testifying 
churches. 

There can be no objection we think 
for the American Legion to give some 
expression of their regards for comrades 
as they shall pass away one by one in 
the days to come, providing all religious 
ritual is eliminated as at present pro- 
posed. There probably would be no ob- 
jection to volleys and taps after the 
pastor of the respective denomination to 
which the departed has belonged had 
finished conducting the funeral rites in 
accordance with the rules of the church. 
Neither would there be any objection 
if one or more of the comrades should 
give a short address while placing a 
wreath upon the grave in token of sym- 
pathy with those who are left behind, 
and also while placing a flag at the head 
of the g*rave. 

We believe that the plan of The Amer- 
ican Legion at the present time is Amer- 
ican and democratic, and that to keep it 
such it is incumbent upon all lovers of 
openness and freedom to do what they 
can to let the managers of the American 
Legion know that they approve of the 
present purposes of the organization to 
make it possible for every honorably dis- 
charged soldier to join and enjoy the 
fellowship of his late comrades. The 
rules and Constituion of this soldier or- 
ganization have not been fully formu- 
lated and will not be until the next An- 



100 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



nual Meeting this fall. We may be sure 
that Satan will stir up some to add a 
Chaplain and some kind of religious 
ritual for the burial service, and hence 
we should be prayerfully active in 
thwarting such a move. Only about half 
of the soldiers of the Civil War united 
with the G. A. R. Many objected to its 
secrecy and religious ritual. May the 
American Legion avoid the mistakes of 
the older organization. 



Where in this number is the fact 
mentioned of the alliance between the 
Salvation Army and the Elks? 



In which article will you find set forth 
the ideals of The American Legion? 



Do vou know where in this number 
of the Cynosure it is said that Mr. 
Moody took a hundred dollars offered 
him by a saloon-keeper? 

When Mr. Moody received money 
from the saloon-keeper the latter well 
knew that Mr. Moody would use the 
money in a way that would condemn 
the donor's business. That was a very 
different thing from making an alliance 
with the saloon. The writer does not 
believe it to be wrong to receive money 
from a man whose principles and asso- 
ciations he strongly condemns providing 
the donor has been faithfully warned 
and knows that the money donated will 
be used in continuing such condemna- 
tion. 



Do you know why we republish from 
the July Cynosure the testimonies of 
Messrs. Crabtree, Newmark and others? 
The demand for them far outran our 
supply. 

We are obliged to ask your pardon 
for disappointing your desire to read all 
of the other addresses, given at the An- 
nual Meeting, in this number. You shall 
have them later and they are worth 
waiting for. 

UNDUE CREDIT. 

The attention of the editor of the 
Christian Cynosure is called to the 
fact that' there is no such paper as "the 
Cincinnati Catholic Register" and that 
the remark credited by him (Vol. LII, 
No. 2 ; p. 63) [credited to the - United 



Presbyterian] to that paper about God 
having "doubly blessed the Catholic 
Church by placing one of its most faith- 
ful sons [Joseph Tumulty] at the right 
hand of President Wilson," is spurious. 
There are not a few Catholics who re- 
gard Mr. Tumulty as a very doubtful 
"blessing." 
— The Fortnightly Review, July, 1919. 



"MY FATHER WORKS AND I WORK" 
(John 5:17). 

BY CHARLES A. BLANCHARD, PRESIDENT, 

WH EATON COLLEGE, WHEATON, 

ILLINOIS. 

These words from the lips of our 
Lord recorded in John 5 :iy have al- 
ways impressed me as a description of 
the divine life. Jesus here speaks of 
the habit of His Father and of Himself : 
"My Father works and I work." He 
makes a similar remark respecting the 
office of the Holy Spirit: "when He, the 
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide 
you into all truth. * * * He shall 
receive of mine, and shall show it unto 
you." 

It was by Jesus Christ that God made 
the worlds (John 1 :io; Heb. 1 \2). The 
Holy Spirit also speaks of the angels 
saying that God makes His angels min- 
isters to those who are to be heirs of 
salvation. (Heb. 1 114.) The word 
"minister" means "one who serves." God 
makes his angels servants to serve those 
who are heirs of salvation. Thus we 
have a picture of the ceaseless, tireless 
industry of the Divine. 

Man who partakes of the divine na- 
ture is under the same rule. Jesus said 
to His disciples, "As My Father hath 
sent Me, even so send I you" (John 20: 
21). And we may know just what He 
means for He says: "For this purpose 
the son of God was manifested, that He 
might destroy the works of the devil" 
(John 3:8). And again He says, "I 
am come that they might have life, and 
that they might have it more abundantly" 
(John 10:10). That is, Jesus Christ 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



101 



has a double office. He is destroying the 
works of the devil ; He is giving life 
abundant to His people. And as the 
Father sent Him to do these things, so 
He sends us to do the same. 
This An Encouragement 

All those who belong to God and who 
are sincerely occupied in His work find 
comfort in words like these. They do 
not toil alone and they do not toil un- 
successfully. They have companion- 
ship and victory in all the work they 
undertake for Him. 

I think I understand fairly well the 
discouragements and depressions which 
come to the children of God in their ef- 
forts to establish the Kingdom of their 
Father among men. Physical infirmi- 
ties, financial necessities, the alienation 
of friends, the efforts of enemies, the 
direct assaults of principalities and pow-' 
ers, all these tend to dishearten and to 
slacken endeavor. But reflecting on the 
never ceasing labors of God, our Father, 
of God our Saviour, of God our Teach- 
er, and bearing in mind the fact that 
these labors have all been given to us 
and that our labors are in co-operation 
with theirs, all this tends to hearten, to 
energize, to lead on to victory. 
A Three-Fold Cord. 

Three events have recently occurred 
in my life which have conducted to the 
thoughts above expressed. 

When I was in Philadelphia in the 
Fundamentals Conference, I was leav- 
ing the platform one day when a friend 
said to me, "I have a friend here who 
wishes to meet you." I paused and was 
introduced to an impressive looking gen- 
tleman who said to me that he had re- 
quested the introduction as he wished 
to speak with me briefly. We continued 
our conversation through perhaps ten 
minutes, possibly more, possibly less, 
The substance of his remark was this : 
"I am a minister of the Gospel and have 
for years been engaged in evangelistic 



work. I am also a thirty-second de- 
gree Mason and have for some time 
been ill at ease respecting the latter fact. 
It has seemed to me that an affiliation 
with the masonic lodge was not a proper 
position for a Christian man to occupy. 
I have heard of your testimony on this 
subject and I wish to speak with you re- 
specting it." 

I replied that I was glad to speak with 
him and that the only question was; 
whether or not he was prepared at all 
costs to be obedient to the Spirit. These 
were not the words but this was the 
thought, as well as I can recall it at this 
time. He said, "You feel sure that it 
is a violation of the teaching of the 
Spirit for a man to be in my position?" 
If not, I replied in substance, why 
should you be ill at ease? There are 
many things in your daily life about 
which you are not disturbed : you know 
you are doing the will of God. But you 
are associated with unbelievers in your 
lodge life. You know this is forbidden 
by the Word of God. You do not need 
to know His will. You need to be will- 
ing to do it. And as soon as you are 
willing to do His will, while you may find 
hostility among men, you will secure the 
approbation of your Heavenly Father. 

We parted in the lobby of the Acad- 
emy of Music. I have not seen him 
since. I do not know what he will have 
faith and courage to do, but I trust that 
God will lead him out and lead him on 
until he shares the glorious liberty of a 
child of God. 

Witness Number Two. 

After the close of the Fundamentals 

Conference in Philadelphia, I went to 
New Y^ork to share in the Fundamentals 
Conference held in that city. My time 
was very short for engagements in Ohio 
and Michigan were waiting me. but I 
preached Monday at eleven o'clock in 
the morning and at three in the after- 
noon. At the close of the morning serv- 



102 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



ice, a gentleman came forward and said, 
"I am very thankful to see you. I have 
been thinking of you for more than a 
week." I had never seen him before. 
He had never seen me before ; but he 
said he had been thinking of me for 
more than a week. He said, "I am a 
minister here in this city and I am also 
a thirty-second degree free mason. I 
have been disturbed in my conscience re- 
garding my masonic relations for a good 
while and last week I remembered that 
I had heard from someone, somewhere, 
somehow that a Mr. Blanchard had 
written a book on the subject of secret 
societies. I have therefore been desir- 
ing to see and speak with you concern- 
ing this matter. The conversation that 
followed was substantially like that 
which has been recorded in connection 
with the Philadelphia Conference. In 
fact, there is little else to be said; for 
Free Masonry is anti-christian in all 
its characteristics. It profanes the 
Word of God; it teaches men to violate 
" His Commandments ; it binds good and 
evil men in unequal fellowship and is a 
deadly enemy of the home, the church 
and the state, the only divine institutions 
existing among men. 

It is obvious that in these two cases, 
the Holy Spirit was working in the 
minds of these two Christian ministers 
to separate them from these Godless and 
evil associations. Neither of them, so 
far as could be learned from their con- 
versations had been taught of man 
Both of them were under the direct 
teaching of the Holy Spirit. They were 
ill at ease. They knew that the position 
which they occupied was contrary to the 
Word of God and the teaching of the 
Spirit. They did not know this clearly 
and well. They saw "men like trees 
walking," but they knew enough to be 
disturbed and both of them being Chris- 



tian men desired to know more perfect- 
ly the will of God. 

God works ; Jesus works ; the Holy 
Spirit works ; holy men work, not so 
well as they ought, not so patiently, per- 
sistently and successfully as they might, 
but they work. And God blesses their 
work and here were two of God's chil- 
dren who were hampered and hindered 
by disobedience, whom He was seeking 
to set at liberty and to thrust out more 
fully into His service. 

Witness Number Three. 

I have just returned from a Bible 

Conference held in Zion City, Illinois. 
It has been a very impressive meeting. 
The persons attending it are not 
wealthy: many of them are what the 
world would call poor, but they have 
been for years interested in a mission 
among the Basutos in South Africa. 
Two beautiful young women, members 
of the church, have been for five years 
laboring among those benighted people 
in that dark land. They have been at 
home for two years on furlough and 
the mission effort in this Bible Confer- 
ence was to provide means to send them 
out again with a Christian man who goes 
with them to superintend a farm, of two 
hundred acres which belongs to the mis- 
sion. He is a skilled mechanic, a man 
who has accumulated quite a property 
and who has devoted both his property 
and his life to the Basutoland mission. 
The friends were a little discouraged 
about the money required to finance 
these three missionaries who are expect- 
ing soon to sail. Their passage money, 
$900.00, had already been raised and 
paid and they had in the treasury per- 
haps a $1,000.00 or so, but to purchase 
the farm implements, the seed, to erect 
the buildings which they require, would 
cost about $6,000.00 more and just how 
to raise this sum of money, which, very 
small to some persons was large to them, 
they did not know. 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



103 



Last Sabbath morning the message 
was from the words of Jesus, "Sell 
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the 
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven : and come, take up the cross, 
and follow me" (Mark 10:21). The 
Holy Spirit was with the Word and when 
the people came together at three o'clock 
in the afternoon, it was evident that God 
was with them as He always is with 
those who are disposed to obey Him. 
The result was that with great joy the 
people cast into the treasury of God 
until all that was required was pro- 
vided. The two missionaries who had 
labored five years among the Basutos 
were so filled with gladness that they 
could scarcely sleep that night. In the 
evening, God met with us again and the 
message was from the words "Prepare 
the way of the Lord; Prepare the way 
of the people "(Isa. 40:3/4; 62:10). 

I was a guest during this conference 
with a business man who is a humble 
and devoted Christian. As we were 
speaking after the close of the evening 
meeting, he said to me, "Freemasonry is 
one of the great enemies of the King- 
dom of God." I replied, it surely is. 
Do you know this from your personal 
experience? "Yes," he said, "I was a 
thirty-second degree Freemason and I 
had no rest in my soul after I knew 
God until I abandoned the whole system 
and came out to belong to God alone. 

(I am always a little embarrassed in 
trying to report truthfully conversations 
which occurred in the past. I do not 
pretend to say that he said these very 
words, which I have just written, but 
I feel free to say I have not misrepre- 
sented in any particular the thoughts 
which he expressed.) 

The interesting fact in this connection 
to my mind is, that these three men, 
Christian brethren, received into the fel- 
lowship of the masonic organizations, 



should have all of them by the teaching 
of the Holy Spirit without, so far as I 
have knowledge, any human touch what- 
ever, have been led to see that as Chris- 
tion men, they were under obligation to 
have no fellowship with this work of 
darkness and were moving out under the 
teaching of the Holy Spirit without any 
particular help from man. It was also 
interesting to know that when the Holy 
.Spirit found them, one of the things 
which He did was to move them to talk 
with me. It so happened that I was the 
person whom they met. It might easily 
have been any one of a thousand others. 
We have every reason to believe that 
scores and hundreds of men taught in 
the same manner by the Holy Spirit are 
by Him led to speak with other Chris- 
tian brethren who have some light in re- 
gard to this subject. 

God works ; Jesus works, and the 
Holy Spirit works. They work all the 
time. The negroes in their camp meet- 
ings in the South had a melody which 
they used to sing by the hour running 
something like this : 

My God is writing, 
He is writing all the time. 
He hears all you say; 
He sees all you do; 
My God is writing, 
He is writing all the time. 
There is no question about it. Our God 

sees all we do and hears all we say and 
He is writing in our hearts and in the 
hearts of other men, as well as in the 
books which are to be opened on the 
Judgment Day. 

Whose Child Are You? 
Spurgeon in his sermon on the words, 
"His Word runneth very swiftly" (Ps. 
147:15), says: These words are a great 
encouragement to God's children and 
they are a great discouragement to His 
enemies. He waits a long time before 
He meets man in judgment, but at last 
"His Word runneth very swiftly." He 
waits a long time before He rewards the 
humble faith of the believing ones, but 



104 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



"His Word runneth very swiftly." But 
when He begins, He makes an end. I 
commend this thought to those who read 
these words and who are sometimes dis- 
heartened when they think of the slow 
progress which the Kingdom of God is 
making among men. The progress is 
not so rapid as we could desire, but in 
the end, it will come and it will not tarry. 
-'His Word runneth very swiftly." He 
is working, He is working all the time. 
He is working when you are asleep quite 
as well as when you are awake. He 
works when it is dark just as well as 
when it is bright. When you think His 
cause is failing, He is working just as 
truly as when you see victory which 
tokens progress. Our only anxiety 
should be to keep our own work up to 
the mark. I have often quoted Sam 
Jones who says that men pray as if they 
were afraid that God was going to fail 
on His share of the work. Whereas, the 
failure is never with Him but always 
with us. So many fail because they do 
not realize that we are required to labor 
on dark days just as patiently as on 
bright days and all the time to know that 
God is at work and that in the end Hii 
Kingdom for whose advent we have 
been praying now these nearly two thou 
sand years will come. 



THE AMERICAN LEGION. 

BY J. R. KAYE, PH. D., LL. D. 

It was to be expected that the Great 
War would be followed by an organiza- 
tion of the men who served in the army 
and navy. It was true of the last great 
war through which America passed — the 
Civil W r ar. Those who survived its rav- 
ages formed themselves into an order 
known as The Grand Army of the Re- 
public. It seemed most fitting that such 
a conflict in which the basic principles 
of the nation were preserved should be 
distinguished by an organization of the 
men who, with their dead comrades, had 
triumphed in this mighty struggle. Not 
only would this maintain the comrade- 



ship that the war had created, but it 
would keep alive and emphasize the 
ideals for which they made such heavy 
sacrifices, and would be a living ex- 
pression of the fundamental significance 
of these principles and ideals. 

In like manner the World War in 
which the nation has participated, and 
has so grandly and nobly acquitted her- 
self, is to bind into a great brotherhood 
and comradeship the men who -have sur- 
vived this colossal struggle. This organ- 
ization is to be known as THE AMER- 
ICAN LEGION. 

Significance of the Legion. 

It has its roots in the greatest war 
of history. What at one time seemed 
an inconceivable thing actually occurred : 
America crossed the sea and became a 
part of this European conflict. For the 
first time she entered in such a manner 
into world-wide affairs, as it was also 
the first time when practically the whole 
world was involved in such a contest. 
The boundary lines of principles and 
policies were swept away and America 
was destined to enter and help to settle 
a world issue. In her world-wide deal- 
ings she can never again be what she has 
been in the past. 

For the first time the American soldier 
has carried the Stars and Stripes into 
Europe, and fought side by side with 
the nations of the world. Thousands of 
our brave boys are sleeping in the soil 
of France. With victory perched upon 
its banners a great army is returning 
home to combine with a great army that 
was spared the necessity of going across 
in the formation of a Legion, a brother- 
hood, that in itself should express what 
the Americans helped to preserve and 
establish — the universal principles of 
truth and freedom. 

Thus the significance of such an or- 
ganization must be viewed in the light 
of the exceeding greatness of these 
events and the universal' character of 
these tremendous interests. In the whole 
range of American history nothing has 
occurred to call into existence a com- 
munity of interests expressed in an or- 
ganization of such wide and far-reaching 
import. In the War of the Revolution 
we fought for our independence; in the 
War of 1812 we fought for what we 
conceived to be within our rights ; in the 
Civil War we fought for a united conti- 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



105 



nent and the emancipation of the slave 
upon American soil ; in the Spanish- 
American War we fought for an op- 
pressed people near to our own doors ; 
and now, in what might be called the 
World War, we fought for the world, 
humanity, for universal freedom, for the 
rights of small states, for democracy and 
for the peace of the nations. Surely 
The xAmerican Legion as an organization 
is the greatest expression and representa- 
tion of America's place in the world of 
anything that has yet appeared in our 
national life. 

Ideals of the Legion. 

These ideals are set forth in the pre- 
amble of its Constitution in the follow- 
ing declaration : 

"For God and country we associate 
ourselves together in the following pur- 
poses : 

"To uphold and defend the Constitu- 
tion of the United States of America ; 
to maintain law and order ; to foster and 
perpetuate a one hundred per cent Amer- 
icanism ; to preserve the memories and 
incidents of our association in the Great 
War ; to inculcate a sense of individual 
obligation to the community, state and 
nation ; to combat the autocracy of both 
the classes and the masses ; to make 
right the master of might ; to promote 
peace and good will on earth ; to safe- 
guard and transmit to posterity the prin- 
ciples of justice, freedom and democ- 
racy ; to consecrate and sanctify our 
comradeship by our devotion to mutual 
helpfulness." 

The American Legion grounded in 
such principles must command the ad- 
miration, appreciation and whole-hearted 
enthusiasm of every true American. It 
is Christian in sentiment and purpose 
in that it gives God the first place in 
this statement of its ideals. It is pro- 
foundly patriotic in its invigorating 
Americanism. It is humanitarian and 
ethical in its interpretation of the prin- 
ciple of right. It is democratic in all 
that the term signifies. It is benevolent 
in spirit and aim in the promotion of 
world-wide peace and good will. 



Principles and Policies of the Legion. 

Its principles are broad and generous 
relative to its membership. The man 
called into the service, military and na- 
val, but had no part in the actual con- 
flict, may be as truly a memebr of and 
have the same part in the Legion as those 
who participated in the heat of battle. 

The regulations are rigid regarding 
the character and conduct of every mem- 
ber, and what is required pertaining to 
the duties of citizenship. The high char- 
acter of the Legion is safeguarded in 
the firm establishment of the principle 
that the organization can in no wise be 
used for political or partisan purposes, 
or for the promotion of any person's 
candidacy in public afTairs. It is to be 
devoutly hoped that throughout the com- 
ing years the Legion will never descend 
from the high purpose and never commit 
itself to the intrigues of the politician. 

In its entire constitutional statement 
there is nothing that savors of secrecy, 
nothing of the lodge feature in this re- 
spect. It is free from all such exclusive 
elements, of unusual oaths hedging it 
about and thereby rendering it impos- 
sible for any man to enter freely and 
fully into the organization. The good 
sense as well as the true principle of this 
cannot be too highly commended. 

Again, and what is of the first im- 
portance, is the entire freedom from the 
organization of religious ritualism. In 
this particular it has again saved itself 
from this pernicious institution and prac- 
tice of the lodge. There is no burial 
ritual that arrogates to itself the right 
to declare the destiny of one and all of 
its members based upon the accident of 
their membership in the Legion. This 
is not only in the interests of good sense 
but of that sensible and intelligent ap- 
preciation of what does and does not 
belong to such organizations. 

A distinction, however, should be 
made between the type of ritualism re- 
ferred to and the propriety of a burial 
service free from the things we have just 
condemned. There is no good reason 
why the organization may not compile 
and use what would be entirely fitting 
and proper, and in no sense or measure 
be committed to the forms and declara- 
tions of the rituals under criticism. It 



106 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



is to be sincerely hoped that no evil 
genius will ever tempt this great or- 
ganization to descend from this high 
plane and follow in the footsteps of the 
so-called "brotherhoods" that have ef- 
fected such distortions in their religious 
claims and institutions. 

The American Legion has an historic 
setting of tremendous significance, and 
is organized for the perpetuation and 
promotion of great 'things. It has the 
deep interest and sympathy of every true 
American. It represents a nation's 
greatness and glory, and it is the hope 
and prayer of that nation that its ideals 
and activities throughout the years shall 
be -commensurate and correspondent 
with the exceeding greatness and signifi- 
cance of those events whichi gave it 
birth. 



AN ANTISECRET CHRISTIAN DAILY. 

Chicago, Illinois, July 3rd, 1919. 
The Christian Cynosure, 

Chicago, Illinois. 
Dear Mr. Editor : 

Would you kindly run the enclosed 
contribution in the earliest edition of 
your magazine? 

You will understand, a Christian daily 
would fight secret organizations as 
strongly as any other type of anti-Chris- 
tian movements. Help us along! Edito- 
rial comment would be appreciated. 

Thanking you in advance, I am 
Yours in the Master's service, 

J. Clover Monsma. 



AN IMPORTANT REQUEST. 

Voices have been raised of late in 
favor of a Christian daily newspaper. 
Do you know, dear reader, that we, 
Christians, are in great need of such a 
paper ? Just consider the following : 

In our country more than twenty thou- 
sand newspapers are being published and 
Xot One of These Is Positively Chris- 
tian in Character, so far as we know. I 
wonder what our King in heaven thinks 
of this ? Does not this statement convey 
one of the most serious charges imag- 
inable? We are called upon to practice 
our religion, to let our light shine, but 
what are we doing in the broad field of 
the daily newspaper ? 

James Bryce has said that our Amer- 
ican government trembles before Public 



Opinion, the President himself included, 
and the public opinion is influenced and 
directed chiefly by the daily newspaper. 
What are we, Christians, doing with this 
mighty organ for moulding public 
opinion? The daily newspaper is the 
only educational means of thousands of 
people ; they read nothing but that ; why 
do not we, Christians, make use of our 
great opportunity in this field? By 
means of a Christian newspaper we 
could make the will of Christ known 
with respect to the various problems of 
life, and we could do so daily. 

As the situation is at present, we, 
Christian parents, are continually obliged 
to takeun-Christian and sometimes anti-. 
Christian papers into our homes. In the 
church, in the Sunday school, in our 
homes, we try to lead our children in the 
right direction, and, lo and behold, here 
comes the Worldly newspaper from Day 
to Day to undermine the Christian foun- 
dations that we have been trying to build. 
Are my utterances too strong? A seven 
years' experience on the editorial staff 
of one of our large dailies tells me that 
they are Not. 
' Just mark the following points : 

1. News is oftentimes published in an 
untruthful manner. The publishers are 
very often connected with political clubs 
or moneyed interests, and this usually 
has a pernicious influence upon their 
paper. 

2. Only that news is published which 
gratifies the taste of the managing ed- 
itor, and that taste is very often Far 
from Christian. 

3. Great movements in the field of re- 
ligion, doings of the churches, of Chris- 
tian organizations [such as the National 
Christian Association, opposed to secret 
societies], of Christian institutions of 
learning, — they are either ignored or re- 
ports concerning them are stowed away 
in some obscure corner. 

4. Sporting news occupies whole 
pages; Christianity and the Bible are, 
stuffed in the smallest nook imaginable. 
Some proportions !, Or has Christianity 
nothing to do with the newspaper? But 
is not Christ King of All of, Life? . Our 
children view these proportions from 
day to day ; what influence will it exert 
upon them? 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



107 



5. The editorials are good at times, 
but very often they are not, and most 
times they are strongly colored by doc- 
trines humanistic and evolutionary. 

6. We keep our children away from 
the bad movies and theaters; and yet — 
daily we give them the opportunity to 
feast their eyes upon advertisements that 
are far from clean, with pictures highly 
immoral, and with invitations to come 
and see some of the vilest productions 
on the market. 

7. Funny cuts, etc., are also oftentimes 
far from noble and uplifting. 

For a truth, my fellow-Christian, a 
Christian Daily Paper we must have ! A 
paper that views the problems and hap- 
penings of life in the light of eternity. 
A paper that honors the Bible above the 
inventions of man. 

Perhaps Chicago would be the logical 
point of distribution for such a paper. 
A midnight or early morning edition 
could then reach Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Eastern Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, 
and even western Pennsylvania, on the 
same day. But publishing a newspaper 
is a costly affair. It means a great outlay 
of money. We would have to be as- 
sured beforehand of the moral support 
of our Christian people, no matter what 
their church affiliations are. Hence This 
Very Earnest Request: Let all those that 
would favor the plan of a Christian 
newspaper drop us a postal and tell us 
so. It is a small thing. You bind your- 
selves to nothing. All we are after is the 
Sentiment of our Christian people. This 
same request appears in other papers and 
will reach over a half million Christian 
homes. God grant that pur ideals may 
be realized ! ' 

Please comply with this request ! Do 
it now ! Write your name and address 
plainly. Address : Rev. J. Clover 
Monsma, 5843 Archer avenue, Chicago, 
111. 

Yours in His service, 

J. Clover Monsma. 



"So you're saving up to buy an air- 
ship? You're quite an ambitious little 
boy." 

"Yes, sir ; I want to fly over Jimmie 
Mack's back yard and drop bricks on 
him." 



CHRISTIANITY VS. SECRET 
SOCIETIES. 

REV. GEORGE E. COOPRIDER, MENDOTA, ILL. 
(An Address Delivered at the Annual Meet- 
ing of the National Christian Association, 
in Chicago Illinois, June G, 1919.) 
Brethren and friends, I greet you in 
the name of our Heavenly Father and 
his Son Jesus Christ our Savior and in 
the fellowship and communion of the 
Holy Ghost. 

I believe I utter the truth when I say 
that every man, who is a Christian, that 
unites with secret societies, compromises 
the teachings of the Bible, dishonors 
Jesus Christ and dulls the keen erge of 
his own conscience. 

This is the "Laodicean Age" of the 
Church, when she is to become apostate, 
formal and worldly. This is the age of 
the well dressed Church which makes a 
good appearance and has great organiza- 
tions, and yet is sorely lacking in vital 
piety and soulwinning power. This is 
the spectacular, amusement, banqueting, 
and lukewarm age of the Church, which 
is painfully lacking in deep devotion and 
spiritual power, "having a form of God- 
liness but denying the power thereof." 

Listen to the strong condemnation of 
the Master upon this thriving apostate 
Church, Rev. 3 114-18 : 

14 And unto the angel of the church of 
the Laodiceans write ; These things saith the 
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the begin- 
ning of the creation of God; 

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither 
cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot. 

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and 
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of 
my mouth. 

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and in- 
creased with goods, and have need of noth- 
ing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, 
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried 
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ; and 
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, 
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not 
appear ; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, 
that thou mayest see. 

Just at a time like this when the prayer 
meeting is dying out and the class meet- 
ing is forgotten and the family altar is 
broken down, and the oldtime revival 
with its conviction for sin is a thing, 
mostly of the past — just at this time 
does the world come sweeping in on an 
ever-swelling tide of secret orders with 
their pretense of good fellowship, of 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 




GEORGE E. COOPRIUER. 



great charity, and with their formal 
worship to capture a Laodicean church. 

The apostle Paul was no weakling that 
could not discern the drift and tendency 
toward these last day delusions, nor was 
he a coward and afraid to lift up his 
voice in powerful warning to the Church. 
We hear him in 2 Tim. 3:1-7: 

This know also, that in the last days peri- 
lous times shall come. 

2 For men shall be lovers of their own 
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. 

3 Without natural affection, truce-break- 
ers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despis- 
ers of those that are good. 

4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of 
pleasures more than lovers of God; 

5 Having a form of godliness, but deny- 
ing the power thereof: from such turn away. 
Christian Men Violate the Plain Law of 

God in Uniting with Secret Societies. 

Hearken as the Holy Spirit speaks to 
us in the Word of God : 

Can two walk together, except they be 
agreed. — Amos 3 :3. 

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the 
counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the 
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the 
scornful. — Ps. 1 :1. 

Be ye not unequally yoked together with 
unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath right- 
eousness with unrighteousness? and what 
communion hath light with darkness? 

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? 
or what part hath he that believeth with an. 
infidel? 

Wherefore come out from among them, and 
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not 
the unclean thing. — 2 Cor. 6 :14, 15, 17. 

I spake, openly to the world : I ever taught 
in. the synagogue, and in the temple, whither 
the Jews always resort ; and in secret have I 
said nothing. — J no. 18:20. 

Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful 
works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 

For it is a shame even to speak of those 
things which are done of them in secret. — Eph 
5:7, 11, 12. 

And they were more than forty which had 



made this conspiracy. We have bound our- 
selves under a great curse, that we will eat 
nothing until we have slain Paul. — Acts 23: 
13, 14. 

Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his 
lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be 
that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and 
it be hid from him ; when he knoweth of it, 
then he shall be guilty in one of these. 

And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in 
one of these things, that he shall confess that 
he hath sinned in that thing. — Lev. 5 :4, 5. 

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman 
unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the 
word at my mouth, and give them warning 
from me. 

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt 
surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, 
nor speakest to warn the wicked from his 
wicked way, to save his life ; the same wicked 
man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood 
will I require at thine hand. 

Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn 
not from his wickedness nor from his wicked 
way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou 
hast delivered thy soul. — Ezk. 3:17-19. 
Compromising and Violating the Word 
of God. 
Bible history abounds with the sad 
story of the fate and downfall of men 
and nations in their attempt to compro- 
mise and "get by" the Word of God. 

Adam, with his unmanly excuse, the 
woman tempted me, compromised the 
plain law of God and of his own con- 
science and brought the world under the 
curse of sin and death. Joseph met a 
woman high up in the courts of Pha- 
raoh's empire, but he did not yield to 
her soft and insinuating smile. Cain, 
Saul and Ananias and Sapphira com- 
promised their souls in attempting a sub- 
stitue sacrifice, but Abraham was four- 
square for God, he put his own son on 
the altar in humble obedience to God's 
command. 

Lot chose the riches of "well watered 
plains," and the society of the city in 
"pitching his tent toward Sodom," but 
his family came to moral shipwreck. But 
Abraham was willing to "dwell in a tent" 
and became the father of the faithful 
and heir of a redeemed world. He was 
true to God and privileged to pray his 
nephew Lot out of the burning and 
doomed city of Sodom. 

The Church Has Compromised on the 
Question of the Lodge. 

Hoping to gain membership and influ- 
ence with the world the Church has not 
only allowed her members to unite with 
secret orders, she has also compromised 
among other things upon the divorce 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



109 



question, and upon modern amusements 
- — the theater, the dance, and card play- 
ing. 

I wish now to ask a series of questions 
relative to "Christianity versus Secret 
Societies" and let the experience of men 
in the ministry and history and cold facts 
answer. Has the preacher increased his 
power zvith God in winning men to 
Christ by uniting with the Lodge ? 

Has his own life and example become 
a greater power in convicting men of sin 
and unrighteousness and of their one su- 
preme need of a Savior by uniting with 
the Lodge? 

Is he more concerned and burdened 
for the prayer meeting and the revival 
interests of his church and the piety and 
spiritual life of his people since he be- 
came a brother in the Lodge? 

Is he more filled zvith the Holy Ghost? 
Does he preach Christ and him crucified 
— an all-sufficient Savior better since he 
became a lodge man? Are men under 
his ministry converted mainly to the so- 
cial functions of the church, or by the 
searching, pure gospel of Jesus Christ 
to the family altar, prayer meeting and 
spiritual functions of the Church. Does 
he so preach and influence men that they 
are made to feel and know that outside 
of Jesus Christ they are forever and 
eternally lost? Does he so preach the 
plain, unvarnished, and unadulterated 
gospel that Lodge men see their sin and 
know they are lost, unless they confess 
faith in Jesus Christ as their only Savior 
and obedience to him as their only Lord? 

Is a man a better preacher for God in 
the Lodge or outside of it? After the 
church has made concession after con- 
cession of its creed, its spiritual and 
moral standards and thrown wide open 
her doors to lodge members and lovers 
of modern amusements, what have been 
the actual results? We have a church 
filled up with the world. The statement 
is frankly made by many pastors today 
that more than half their membership 
know nothing about actual conversion or 
the deep joys of real spiritual life. 
The Ministers Have Compromised Their 
Message. 

The deity and sonship of Christ ; the 
doctrines of atonement, sin and resurrec- 
tion are all discredited by the "higher 
critics" of the day so that the inspiration 



and miracles of the Book of Books are 
held in doubt and question today. Many 
modern clergymen have thus made pop- 
ular his membership in many secret or- 
ders of the day. He is a man with no 
strong convictions of the sin of lodges, 
no unswerving loyalty for vital truths of 
the gospel of freedom and separation. 
The preacher with a compromised mes- 
sage is a man with a backbone of putty 
that can be moulded into any shape for 
any occasion. The apostle James says of 
him, "A double minded man is unstable 
in all his ways." (Jas. 1:8). "No man 
can serve two masters" acceptably to 
both. 

Ministers United with the Lodge to Be 

Good Mixers and Win Unsaved 

Men to Jesus Christ. 

This is the claim. In private and in 
public many thus admit a compromise of 
principle by doing evil that good may 
come. This is a philosophy that is not 
pleasing to God and cannot possibly be 
fruitful of permanent good to man or 
minister in the end. 

The experience of Rev. A. C. Dixon, 
D. D., for the past several years the pas- 
tor of Spurgeon's famous Tabernacle 
Church, London, England, follows : 

I went to Brooklyn and there was inveigled 
into a secret order. I didn't know I was 
joining one — they called it a mutual insurance 
society. I would be ashamed to describe the 
initiation. When I got inside and found, pre- 
siding over the idotic orgies, my deacon, one 
of the most dignified in the church, and found 
him putting me through that sort of proceed- 
ing, and also some of the prominent church- 
members with him, I felt like a fool. I felt 
I had lost some of my influence with these 
men by submitting to the indignities of that 
initiation — such as boys would go through and 
laugh over, but when men come down to them 
they are certainly indignities, if not insults. 
I felt extremely undignified and humiliated by 
the proceedings, but that Was not all — before 
the first meeting was over, the chairman of 
the Annual Ball Committee made a report and 
informed us that the tickets for the public 
ball were there for distribution, and each one 
of us was expected to distribute so many, and 
urge his friends to attend. "Well, well," I 
thought, "I am in it; I never thought I would 
get into a thing like this." So I did not have 
anv more sense than just to get up and say 

"f am not in the habit of attending public 
balls, I do not know how to sell tickets to 
public balls; I believe that your public ball is 
att abomination unto heaven, and I cannot 
advise any of the members of my church to 
go." 

My deacon sat there and looked at me out 
of the corner of his eye, as if that was a sort 
of new revelation to him. When I had said 



110 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



the same thing perhaps a dozen times to indi- 
viduals privately, I went home feeling a little 
twinge of conscience; and I confess I did not 
go to sleep quite as early as usual that night. 
I had gotten mixed up with unbelievers, was 
unequally yoked; I could not manage them; 
they had all the yoke on their side, and they 
were just carrying me headlong, like a blind 
ox, yoked in with them; I could not do a 
thing but kick and bellow, and I did that. 

Within a few weeks I received a nicely 
printed card, announcing a progressive euchre 
party under the auspices of that secret order, 
and inviting me and family and friends to 
come. I sat down and wrote : "My dear sir, 
I do not play progressive euchre; it is gam- 
bling; and I do not want my family to play it. 
I therefore return the card." I thought that 
was the best testimony I could give. 

About three months afterwards another, 
more beautifully embossed card came, inviting 
me, and not my family, to a stag party. The 
words "stag party" were in quotation marks 
and printed in capital letters. I said, "What 
is a stag party?" I found, after interpreta- 
tion by one who knew, that the stag party 
was a vaudeville show in which women un- 
dressed danced before husbands whose wives 
were at home. When I learned that, I sat 
down and wrote to the secretary of the lodge: 
"My. Dear Sir: I don't believe in your balls, 
and I don't believe in your progressive euchre 
parties, nor your stag parties; and as I can- 
not influence this concern for good, I offer my 
resignation." 

Secret Societies are in Opposition to the 
Church. They have Forms of Worship. 
Many Claim Them a Substitute for the 
Church and Sufficient for Salvation. 

Rev. Charles A. Blanchard of Whea- 
ton College says : 

That Christian churches are robbed and 
disintegrated by lodges is also so plain as to 
require little more than a statement. The se- 
cret society of our day, political, religious, 
patriotic, industrial or social, has an altar. It 
has a code of morals; and it promises in terms 
more or less obscure that persons who wor- 
ship at its altar and conform to its code shall 
be saved from hell that is, go to the Grand 
Lodge above. The code does not require men 
to confess or forsake sin nor to believe in 
Jesus Christ. The code of morals insists that 
they pay their dues and do good to the mem- 
bers of the order. It is obvious that men who 
believe that they can attain heaven in the next 
world and live in sin in this — that they can 
satisfy law by giving to those who will give 
to them, by protecting those who will pro- 
tect them ; and that incidentally they can make 
money and secure office — it is obvious, I say, 
that men who believe these things are not 
likely to repent of their sins, abandon them, 
and find a home in the church. We should 
not expect them to do so, and, in fact, we find 
that they do not. 

On this point Rev. Adam Murrman 
says of Masonry and Odd-Fellowship : 

Consider these facts : "Mackey's Ritualist" 
is a Masonic authority, and ought to be ac- 
cepted as such by Masons at least; it is so 



accepted. It contains more than thirty 
prayers, and yet the name of Jesus Christ is 
not in one of them ; it contains many benedic- 
tions, and the name of Jesus Christ is not in 
one of them; it contains numerous odes and 
songs of a religious nature, and the name of 
Christ is not in one of them. 

Being world-wide fraternities, taking in 
Hindu, Mohammedan, Unitarian, Jew and 
Christian, with the avowed purpose of unit- 
ing them all in worshipping The One God 
around one common altar, it becomes neces- 
sary to exclude the name of Jesus Christ in 
the interests of the Unitarian, the Hindu, and 
the Jew, while the Christian is distinctly told 
that to include that name would savor too 
much of a sectarianism that the lodge must 
of necessity avoid. The Christian is the only 
religionist of them all who is required to sur- 
render anything in the worship of the lodge, 
and he is asked to surrender Jesus Christ, and 
to give his endorsement to a religious system 
that denies the most fundamental things for 
which his Church stands ; and this he does, 
whether he means to or not, and the fact that 
he professes to honor the Son by saying 
"Good Lord" in his church on Sunday will 
hardly take off the curse from his saying 
"Good Devil" in his lodge during the week. 

Rev. B. Carradine, D. D., for years 
a well known pastor in the M. E. Church 
South and more recently as Evangelist, 
says : 

The fraternity is used by many as a substi- 
tute for the church. 

How often have I heard, how many times 
have you heard men say about Masonry that 
it was as good as the church ; that they want- 
ed no other church; but you have got to re- 
member that Jesus Christ did not found it, 
nor did He join it, nor did He endorse it. 
Christ founded the church and told us to come 
unto her. When men found an institution and 
tell us that it is as good as the church, I 
think those men are in danger. I would not 
stay a moment in an institution if its teaching 
and spirit would produce a feeling of that 
kind among its members. 

Nothing has so powerfully convinced me of 
the dangerous power of these fraternities and 
their actual rivalship of the church as the 
recently uttered threat of some church mem- 
bers, that they would quit the church if I said 
aught against the fraternity. 

What a state of mind and things does this 
reveal. These men and women will cease to 
listen to a man called of God to preach, and 
will dissolve their connection with a Divine 
institution if a man should open his lips in 
warning and rebuke against a human institu- 
tion ! Certainly these societies have en- 
croached upon the feelings and judgments of 
men, to thus plant them in antagonism to the 
servants and church of the Son of God. 
Freemasonry Is Both Contrary and Antag- 
onistic to Christianity. 

Again I quote the able authority of 
Chas. A. Blanchard, D. D., in his book, 
"Modern Secret Societies" : 

Another particular in which the anti-Chris- 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



111 



tian character of Masonry is revealed is in its 
contradiction of the moral system taught in 
the Word of God. That system, as all Chris- 
tians know, is a universal one. Men are re- 
quired to do right to all, to sin against no 
one, while Masonic morals are partial and un- 
dertake to secure the rights of none except 
those who are in some way connected with 
the order. The Mason is sworn to befriem . 
Masons and their relatives, not to steal fron 
Masons or a lodge, not to speak evil of a Mas 
ter Mason before his face or behind his back 
not to strike him in anger so as to draw blood, 
not to commit adultery with his female rela- 
tives. Such a system of morals is as far from 
the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount as 
heaven is from hell. The devil, if embodied^ 
could observe a code, of that sort and be a 
devil still. These are not all the particulars 
in which Masonry shows itself to be hostile 
to the religion of Jesus Christ, but they are 
sufficient for any man who has felt the guilt 
of sin and the pardoning blood of Jesus. 

Idolatry is nowhere more plain or damning 
than in the Masonic lodge. Its creed is deism ; 
its prayers are Christless ; its morals are Sa- 
tanic ; yet it professes to teach men how to live 
well and to die in peace. Together with other 
lodges invented and ruled by Masons, it is the 
great rival of the Christian church in Chris- 
tian lands. As pagan religions are the hin- 
drance to Christianity in heathen lands, so the 
heathen religions of the lodge are the great 
hindrance to the Christian church in our land. 
A Sample of Some of the Penalties in 
Masonry. 

"All this I most solemnly and sincerely 
promise and swear, with a firm and steadfast 
resolution to perform the same, without any 
hesitation, menial reservation or secret eva- 
sion of mind whatever; binding myself under 
no less penalty than that of having my throat 
cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots, 
and buried in the rough sands of the sea, at 
low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows 
twice in twenty-four hours." — Masonic En- 
tered Apprentice Penalty. 



"I furthermore promise and swear, that I 
will assist a Royal Arch Mason, when engaged 
in any difficulty, and will espouse his cause so 
far as to extricate from the same, whether he 
be right or wrong." — Royal Arch Oath. 



"Binding myself under no less a penalty 
than that of having my breast torn open, my 
heart plucked out and placed on the highest 
pinnacle of the temple, to be devoured by the 
vultures of the air." — Masonic Fellozv Craft 
Penalty. 



"All this I most solemnly and sincerely 
promise and swear, . . . binding myself un- 
der no less a penalty than that of having my 
body severed in twain, my bowels taken from 
thence and burned to ashes, the ashes scat- 
tered to the four winds of heaven, that no 
more remembrance might be had of so vile a 
wretch as I should be, should I ever knowingly 
violate this my Master Mason's obligation.— 
Master Mpson's Penalty, 



Suggested Penalty of the United Sons of 
Industry. 

At the head and foot of the coffin stand two 
masked persons in long black robes, and on 
the right side of the coffin stands the chaplain 
in a long white robe, also masked. As the 
hoodwinks are removed they each point with 
forefinger at the skeleton, when the chaplain 
ex< laims : "Behold the secret doom !" 

Those brothers for self-protection, and in 
strict compliance with their obligation, were 
for ed to turn upon him the sword of Jus- 
lic( . He fell from the high position to which 
they had exalted him; his shafts of enmity 
were turned, his babbling tongue was forever 
silenced. He met a traitor's doom. Behold! 
Beware! — Initiation of the United Sons of 
Industry. 

Testimony of Other Widely Known Men. 

I do not see how any Christian, most of all 
a Christian minister, can go into these secret 
lodges with unbelievers. They say they can 
have more influence for good, but I say they 
can have more influence for good by staying 
out of them, and then reproving their evil 
deeds. Abraham had more influence for good 
in Sodom than Lot had. If twenty-five Chris- 
tians go into a secret lodge with fifty who are 
not Christians, the fifty can vote anything they 
please, and the twenty-five will be partakers 
of their sins. They are unequally yoked zvith 
unbelievers. — D. L. Moody. 



Masonic oaths are a conspiracy against God 
and man. They are not repented of while 
they are adhered to. Refusing to renounce is 
adhering. Adherence makes them partakers 
of other men's sins. To laugh about the ab- 
duction of Morgan is laughing about murder. 
— Charles G. Finney. 



These fraternities rob Christ of his glory. 

We all know that benevolence, or Christian 
charity, as we see it in its manifold and beau- 
tiful forms, is the result of the presence and 
influence of Christ in the heart and in the 
world. We fail to see such things in the 
heathen world. Charity belongs to Christian- 
ity. It is the work of Christ. Now, when a 
man gives, and fails to acknowledge Christ in 
the gift, he has robbed the Son of God of 
his peculiar glory. 

Let me illustrate: In a certain distant city 
there exists a newspaper that is anti-Christ, 
anti-religion, anti -everything that is holy. 
Whenever a case of public suffering comes up 
this paper opens its columns for contributions, 
and the contributions flow in. Two-thirds of 
the donors are Christian men and women in- 
spired by the love of Christ; but mark vou, a 
Christless newspaper gets the glory, and not 
the Saviour. 

So you can take the benevolences of all these 
secret fraternities and Christ is not acknowl- 
edged or thought of. One half of the mem- 
bers belong to the church and give because of 
Christ being in their hearts and lives, but 
Christ does not get the glory — instead, a fra- 
ternity that may be worldly in its name and 
spirit g< ts the honor and credit.— -Rev. B.. Car- 
radinc. 



12 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



A Masonic Lodge is the strangest medley of 
priests and murderers, deacons and whore- 
masters, church members and gamblers, decent 
men and loafers, drunkards and rowdies that 
the All-Seeing Eye looks down upon. — A high 
Mason and a worthy man quoted by Judge 
Daniel H. Whitney, Past Master of Behndere 
Lodge. Illinois. 



them as I have opportunity. Want to do 
all I can to help the good work along." 



It is a lamentable fact, yet nevertheless 
true, that about all the mean men of a city or 
town can be found by reading the names in a 
Masonic directory of the place. . . . Beside, 
the leading lights in every lodge are bad men. 
They are brutish, licentious, unprincipled men. 
To be made a Mason is to be their tool. They 
want you for your money and the gooci you 
can do them. Oft-times these leading lights 
are the most dangerous members of society. 
. . . Woe be to that Mason who refuses to 
bow to the high priests of his lodge. I have 
known poor men in the order persecuted, 
driven from their situations, their families 
brought to the very verge of starvation, and 
they themselves treated in the most barbarous 
and hellish manner by these high-handed 
brothers, because they refused to second their 
villainy.- — From "Behind the Bars," pp. 239, 
240. The author ivas a Mason of Jersey 
City' N. J. 



We will not tolerate our members uniting 
with the Masonic or other infidel societies. — 
Augustana Lutheran Synod. 

Secret societies are not needed for any good 
purpose, and may be used for any bad pur- 
pose whatsoever. In my opinion, such socie- 
ties should be prohibited by law. — Wendell 
Phillips. 



In my opinion, the imposition of such obli- 
gations as Freemasonry requires should be 
prohibited by law. — Daniel Webster. 



Be ye not unequally yoked together with 
unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath right- 
eousness with unrighteousness? and what 
communion hath light with darkness ? And 
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or 
what part hath he that believeth with an infi- 
del.— Paul the Apostle, 2 Cor. 6. 



LETTERS TO ANNUAL MEETING. 

[Continued from the June Cynosure.] 



Arthur E. Miller of Hastings, Ne- 
braska, writes: "I enjoy reading the 
Cynosure and am glad to be a member 
of the Association and identified with 
that line of work. Am in hearty sym- 
pathy with the Work and pray for its 
success and progress. Am glad to know 
so many have left the lodge in the South 
and in other places. You will find some 
seceders in almost every place. I keep a 
supply of antilodge tracts and distribute 



Elder Michael Flory of Girard, Illi- 
nois, writes : "Thank you for the pro- 
gram which I received. If I am not able 
to be present, I can look over the pro- 
gram and pray for each speaker and for 
great accomplishments in Jesus' name." 



J. K. Howard of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, and an old-time friend of the 
N. C. A., writes : "I received my card 
of membership in your paramount Na- 
tional Christian Association, which I 
hope will endeavor to secure an amend- 
ment to our national Constitution which 
shall outlaw secret societies in the United 
States. 



Our former Field Agent, Mead A. 
Kelsey, writes from Indianapolis, Indi- 
ana : 'T wonder if you know that the 
Salvation Army is depending very 
largely on the active co-operation of the 
Elks to put over their campaign ? I know 
it is true in this state and I believe it is 
generally true throughout the country. 
You know the story of Mr. Moody tak- 
ing the hundred dollars offered him by 
a saloon keeper, and so it ..may be ad- 
mitted that the question involved is de- 
batable, but it seems a strange alliance 
and I fear for the effect of it upon the 
Army. I know one county here in In- 
diana where the matter of the Salvation 
Army campaign for funds was taken up 
at a lodge meeting and the organization 
for the drive was formed right there 
out of members of the lodge." 



Rev. Adolf P. Ebert, of Oil City, 
Pennsylvania, when sending in his re- 
newal to the Cynosure and a subscrip- 
tion as well, writes : "At the rate at 
which secret orders in this community 
are taking in members it seems almost 
incredible that there should be 30,000 se- 
ceders living in the southern states alone 
who have separated themselves from the 
lodge, that they might be followers in 
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

"It is heartening to note that such is 
the case ; yet we also rejoice to be able 
to record that at least two men here in 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



113 



the past few years have separated them- 
selves from these Christless organiza- 
tions, one having seceded from the 
Knights Templars and the other from the 
Knights of Pythias. Wish you God's 
richest blessings in your endeavor." 



One of our staunch N. C. A. friends 
in Kentucky, Mr. A. D. Cline, writes: 
"I wish I was able to attend the Con- 
vention. I am kept on the go for God 
almost all the time. You have my most 
sincere prayers for the great work you 
are engaged in. There could be no 
greater. My heart is with the National 
Christian Association and all of its 
workers and I hope some day I may 
have the pleasure of meeting with you 
all and sitting together with you in 
Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 

"Remember me in prayer. Like Elijah, 
I am willing to stand alone against all 
the Baal worshipers of this place regard- 
less of the costs." 



Mr. G. Kamp of Cleveland, Ohio, 
writes: "I shall be unable to attend the 
Annual Conference, but pray that God 
will richly bless your labors for the en- 
lightenment of countless thousands 
whose eyes are darkened by the shams 
of the lodge; above all, that His name 
may be glorified." 



With a contribution to the work Mrs. 
M. E. McKee of Clarinda, Iowa, sends 
the following cheering words : "I hope 
you will have a good convention and 
the Spirit of God will be with you, guid- 
ing and directing in all that comes be- 
fore you. I am glad so many have come 
out from the secret societies. Hope many 
more will secede from them. What a 
happy thing it will be when all shall see 
eye to eye in all that concerns the King- 
dom of God. Best wishes and success 
in your good work." 



A good friend who has recently joined 
the Cynosure family, Mrs. T. C. Good- 
knecht of Harvard, Illinois, writes: "I 
am very much interested in the work 
that your Association is doing and am 
anxious to attend the Convention. The 
secret societies are thicker in Harvard 
than were "the frogs in Egypt." A new 



Masonic Temple here is in course of con- 
struction. A silent deceptive force un- 
dermining the work of the Christian 
church." 

Rev. Allan Crabtree, Chicago, writes : 
"Praying our Father's richest blessing 
upon the Conference and upon you, and 
all the other brethren, who are contin- 
uing to bear faithful testimony in these 
last days of the fast approaching apos- 
tasy of the whole professing church, I 
remain, in 'that blessed hope,' your 
brother 'Till He comes'." 

Mrs. Ella Crooks of Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan, writes : "I thank you for the 
kind notice and invitation to attend the 
N. C. A. Association's Convention on 
June 6th. I am sure it would be a great 
inspiration to any lover of the Truth. 
One would hear and see something worth 
while." 

Elder J. Swank of Clayton, Ohio, 
writes : "I am in sympathy with your 
Cause. I meet many secret order mem- 
bers out here. I talked with a Mason 
on the lodge question recently and told 
him some things. He got rather angry — 
this before his wife who was ignorant 
of its workings. I told him he dare not 
tell her the secrets and he said : ''You 
don't know the true Mason — the kind 
you know are the dumps." I appreciate 
the Cynosure and look for its coming 
every month." 

Since receiving the following encour- 
aging words from Rev. A. G. Dornheim, 
of Winburne, Pennsylvania, we in the 
office here have had the pleasure of hav- 
ing had a call from him. He wrote : 
"Evidently the National Christian Asso- 
ciation has had a tremendously good 
reason for existing with a half century 
of hard work behind it. I hope it will 
continue to grow in power and influence 
until it shall have turned the light on 
even- lodge and secret organization in 
the world." 



Mr. M. W. Siemiller and his sisters 
who have been friends of- the N. C. A. 
for many years and have been contribut- 
ing towards its support wrote when 
sending a contribution of $51.00: "We 



114 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



feel it a blessed privilege when we have 
an opportunity to speak words of warn- 
ing and sympathy to those who are 
bound in the chains of the secret lodge, 
also to keep the innocent ones from 
being ensnared and trapped into this sin- 
ful and idolatrous worship. Situated as 
we are we cannot do as much as we de- 
sire but with God's help we will do our 
best. It would be a great pleasure to us 
to be able to attend the fifty-first anni- 
versarv of the National Christian As- 
sociation but we cannot, but we shall 
pray unceasingly for the work and work- 
ers." 



G. A. Peg ram of Davenport, Iowa, 
well known to all of our readers, writes : 

"For years I have not failed to meet 
with, or to send greetings to the N. C. A. 
Annual Meeting. I do not want to fail 
just now for I am still true blue on the 
same old principles. Despite written in- 
vitations, personal solicitations, urgings 
by committees, and written statements of 
having been duly and truly elected with 
persuasions to appear for initiation — I 
am still a free man, and expect to die so. 

"I am in hearty sympathy with the 
work of the N. C. A. and wish it God- 
speed and more abundant success, and 
wish I could help it more financially and 
with personal effort. I have distributed 
quite a number of tracts, and believe 
they have been instrumental not only in 
keeping some out of the toils of secrecy, 
but have caused some to withdraw from 
the entanglements of their lodge bonds. 
But more about this later, as I am plan- 
ning to write my article on 'Fraternities' 
for the Cynosure. 

"I wish I could meet with the brethren 
once more, and hear the addresses and 
assist in the work. But present duties 
forbid it. 

"I am opposed to the centralization of 
power in any one Church, or family, or 
party in any general organization be- 
cause it limits responsibility and inter- 
est, more or less, to such a centraliza- 
tion, nevertheless, as I have often said 
before, so say I now again, I would like 
to see some member of the Blanchard 
family as an officer of the N. C. A. in 
token of the recognition of the whole 
organization of their long, faithful and 



unvarying and unswerving interest in 
this work, and especially because for a 
long time most of the work depended 
upon them. If one is not able to do the 
work, I would like to see some one of 
them Secretary or President Emeritus, 
as a recognition for such services. We 
encourage faithfulness by honoring the 
faithful. On the other hand, I would 
like to see as many denominations rep- 
resented on the Board of Directors as 
possible to get consistency with conven- 
ience and efficient service. If such were 
possible, I would like to see one at the 
head of the work in each denomination, 
if it would secure more results and unan- 
imity of action. But no matter who are 
the officers, let's be true to the Cause 
which so much needs loyalty." 



Mr. J. H, Hoekstra of Chicago, and 
a member of our Board of Directors, 
writes : ''Regarding the question, 'Can 
you meet with us June 5th and 6th,' if 
I possibly can, gladly. Will do my best 
to make it possible. 

"As a member of the Board of Direc- 
tors I have attended as many meetings 
as I could ; missed but a few and am 
sorry that I missed those. Speaking of 
these Board Meetings, let me remark 
that I enjoyed the meetings, feeling my- 
self very much at home among these 
brethren because no uncomprehensible 
spirit rules, no great display of dignity 
makes a man feel uncomfortable. The 
lowly, the meek, the great, the honest, 
the true spirit of Christ rules supreme 
in our Board Meetings extending broth- 
erly love and fellowship to every mem- 
ber present." 



Rev. Daniel Zwier of Hammond, Indi- 
ana, writes : "Brethren, we are with you 
in the struggle against the kingdom of 
darkness. We pray that the Lord's bless- 
ing may rest upon the Convention, and 
upon all the work conducted by the N. 
C. A." 



If we haven't enough religion to drive 
us to share it with all the world it is 
doomed here at home. 



Better have a black eye in defense of 
the truth than a black heart through a 
mummy inertia. 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



115 



Minutes of N. C. A. Annual Meeting, 
June 5 and 6, 1919. 

The fifty-first annual meeting of the Na- 
tional Christian Association was held at the 
Mennonite Church, 1907 South Union Avenue, 
Chicago, 111. 

Thursday evening, June 5th, the first eve- 
ning of the Convention, was one that will long 
be remembered by the delegates and friends 
present. Rev. J. S. MacGeary, recently Bishop 
in charge of the foreign missionary work in 
Africa of the Free Methodist Church, was 
chairman of the session. 

A very searching and able address was given 
by Rev. P. B. Fitzwater, D. D., of the Moody 
Bible Institute. And notwithstanding the peo- 
ple had sat through the long address of Dr. 
Fitzwater, yet the closest and most interested 
attention was given to Rev. George E. Coop- 
rider, pastor of the Christian Advent Church 
of Mendota, Illinois. 

Friday morning, June 6th, General Secretary 
W. I. Phillips called the meeting to order and 
read a letter from the President of the Asso- 
ciation, Rev. 5- F. Heemstra; and also one 
from Rev. J. H. B. Williams, the Vice-Presi- 
dent, both of whom regretted their inability to 
be present at the meeting. 

Rev. W. H. Chandler led in devotional exer- 
cises, hymns were sung, Scripture was read, 
and prayer offered. 

On motion of W. B. Stoddard, Rev. A. H. 
Leaman, pastor of the church in which the 
meeting was being held, was elected chairman. 

Mrs. N. E. Kellogg was requested to take 
notes of the proceedings until the Recording 
Secretary should arrive. 

All friends present were invited to partici- 
pate in the meeting. 

The annual reports of the Treasurer and of 
the Auditors were read. Rev. W. B. Stod- 
dard moved that these reports be received and 
adopted. The motion prevailed. 

Mr. W. I. Phillips then read his annual report 
as General Secretary. This report was on the 
whole encouraging, yet it showed the increas- 
ing need of earnest, prayerful work against 
secret organizations. An opportunity was given 
to ask questions after each report. To answer a 
question arising as to "The Church of God in 
Christ," Mrs. Lizzie Roberson was called upon 
and gave an interesting account of the form- 
ing among the simple colored people of the 
South of this church, now numbering more 
than 30,000, who taking their name from 
Paul's letter to the Corinthians call them- 
selves "The Church of God in Christ," sanc- 
tified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. 

Rev. J. F. Davidson's report was read and 
approved. His work in the South for many 
years has been carried on through much diffi- 
culty but he seems to be blessed and to be a 
blessing. His report was received and 
adopted. 

Mrs. Baker, of Omaha, read the annual re- 
port of her mother, Mrs. Lizzie Roberson. 
The report was "received as read." 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, New England secre- 
tary of the Association, reported one thou- 
sand and thirty-four subscriptions taken for 
the Christian Cynosure during the year, 



though on account of war conditions and the 
influenza epidemic he had been unable to hold 
the usual number of lectures and state meet- 
ings. His report was accepted. 

Secretary Phillips read the report of Rev. 
J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, S. Dak., who 
has been engaged for a few weeks holding 
anti-secret meetings. His report showed an 
unusual interest and good success. It was 
moved by W. B. Stoddard that "we have heard 
with special interest his report and trust that 
he will be able to continue in the work." Mo- 
tion prevailed. 

Committees were appointed as follows : 
Nominating Committee: Rev. W. B. Stoddard, 
Mrs. L. W. Roberson and Rev. E. A. Tapper. 
Committee on Memorial Resolutions: Rev. 
Wm. H. Chandler, Wheaton, Mr. John Meet- 
ers and Mr. John E. Slater. Enrollment Com- 
mittee:- Mrs. Baker of Omaha, Miss Kellogg 
of Wheaton, and Mr. Thomas A. Maxwell, 
Lincoln, Nebraska. 

After prayer adjournment was had until two 
o'clock p. m. 



At two o'clock Pastor A. H. Leaman 
called the meeting to order and led in a short 
song service. Devotional exercises were con- 
ducted by Rev. E. A. Tapper, of Harvey, Illi- 
nois. Mrs. Baker, of Omaha, sang the Ninety- 
first Psalm very sweetly ; the refrain was "I 
am hidden away in His dear wounded side." 

The Nominating Committee's report was 
read by Mr. John Meeters and was accepted 
and adopted as follows : 

General Officers of the National Christian 
Association: President, Rev. John F. Heem- 
stra, Chicago, Illinois. Vice-President, Rev. 
J. H. B. Williams, Elgin, Illinois. Secretary- 
Treasurer, William I. Phillips, Wheaton, Illi- 
nois. Recording Secretary, Mrs. N. E. Kel- 
logg, Chicago, Illinois. Editor of Cynosure, 
William I. Phillips. 

Board of Directors : Charles A. Blanchard, 
D. D., Rev. H. J. Kuiper, Rev. D. S. Warner, 
Rev. Thomas C. McKnight, Rev. Albert H. 
Leaman, Rev. P. A. Kittilsby, Rev. M. P. 
F. Doermann, Mr. J. H. Hoekstra, Mr. George 
Slager, Mr. H. A. Fischer, Jr., Mr. George W. 
Bond. 

Rev. W. H. Chandler, on behalf of the Com- 
mittee on Memorials and Resolutions, pre- 
sented the following report : 
Memorials. 
Your Committee on Memoirs would report: 

Every year calls for the mention of those 
endeared to us because of their self-sacrificing 
lives, who have completed their work here 
and passed through the veil that so thinly sep- 
arates to the larger life beyond. Your com- 
mittee will not be able to even mention many 
of the friends who have thus gone from us. 
Our attention has been called to the following : 

Rev. B. F. Hester, a beloved pastor in the 
Wesleyan Methodist Church, and a Christian 
reformer. 

Rev. D. P. Baker, a faithful worker whose 
final labors ended in the Southland. 

Mrs. Mary Ann Burpee Browne, mother of 
our good co-worker, Rev. J. Franklin Browne. 

Mrs. J. S. Yaukey, a most efficient and ac- 



116 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



rive worker and of the Radical United Beth- 
rei- Church. 

Mr. D. L. Durr, a good helper and of the 
Mennonite Church. 

Hon. John A. Conant, a veteran reformer 
who contributed largely of money and time 
in our work. 

Mrs. Caroline S. Kennedy, a daughter of 
Jonathan Blanchard and much interested in 
our cause. 

Rev J. E. A. Doermann, who gave special 
aid in our battle with lodge legislation at 
Washington, D. C. 

Rev. Dr. Stellhorn, senior professor at Capi- 
tol University, Columbus, Ohio, who contrib- 
uted much bv writing and otherwise in aid of 
the N. C. A." work. 

These with many other friends who have 
been helpful in the prosecution of the N. C. A. 
work, have entered into their eternal rest dur- 
ing the year. While we would not wish them 
back to meet again the struggles incident to 
life, we who remain greatly miss their kindly 
ministration and join in prayer that the "Lord 
of the harvest" may raise up others who shall 
aid as did they. 

The following resolutions were offered by 
the Committee on Resolutions: 

"Whereas, Secret societies are having their 
'special drives' to secure new members and 
their baneful influences are thus increasingly 
felt in our religious, social and political life, 
be it resolved : 

"I. We invite all lovers of light to be more 
closely allied with our Association by the use 
of our agencies and literature in the churches 
with which they are connected. 

"II. We deem it practical in the further 
pursuance of our work that the Cynosure 
Endowment Fund be increased so that the 
present subscription price may be continued. 

"III. W r e invite our friends to help us by 
obtaining and forwarding to the National 
Christian Association, 850 West Madison 
Street, Chicago, Illinois, an indorsement or 
commendation of our work executed by the 
law-making body of the church with which 
they are connected. 

"IV. As the Christianity of the Christian 
Cynosure has been called in question, we 
would also ask that friendly denominations 
give expression as to their belief in its dis- 
tinctly Christian character." 

It was voted that the report of the com- 
mittee be received and adopted. 

The Enrollment Committee reported names 
of -persons present as follows: 

Thomas A. Maxwell, 2232 R St., Lincoln, 
Neb. ; W. L. Ferris, Dundee, 111. ; Allan Crab- 
tree, 4131 Monroe St., Chicago ; Rev. A. L. 
Wins. 4215 S. Rockwell St., Chicago; J. K. 
©raibill; W. B. Stoddard, Washington, D. C. ; 
lohn Meeter ; Carrie Swan, 3322 Lucas Ave., 
St. Louie, Mo.; Mrs. Ida Baker, 2611 Patrick 
a ve.. O'r.aha, Nebr. ; Lulu Bradford, 4245 W. 
Kennerlv Ave. St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. A. H. 
Lea^T 1-00" Union Ave., Chicago; Mrs. B. 
M C" 1 bill T-T-rvev, 111.; Lizzie W. Roberson, 
Argerf. Ark: Mrs. M. J. Hitchcock. 2032 
Howe St. Chicago; Mrs. W. I. Phillips, Whea- 
ton. 111.; Mrs. James E. Phillips, Wheaton, 



111.; Walter Himes Phillips, W'heaton, 111.; 
Emma Oyer, 1907 S. Union Ave., Chicago ; 
Herman Newmark, Kobe, Japan ; Jacob H. 
Hoekstra, 310 W. 111th PI., Chicago; Mr. 
John E. Slater, Neepawa, Manitoba, Can. ; 
Mrs. N. E. Kellogg, Wheaton, 111.; Mrs. M. 
J. Davis, 325 Seminary St., Wheaton, 111. ; 
Rev. J. H. Mokma, 4140 Grenshaw St., Chi- 
cago ; Rev. W. H. Chandler, Wheaton, 111. ; 
A. B. Bowman, Huntington, Ind. ; Rose R. 
Marsh, Chicago; P. M. Spoolstra, 243 W. 
103d st., Chicago ; Rev. J. Van Lonkhuyzen, 
Chicago; M. Hallstema, 1703 19th PI., Chi- 
cago ; Rev. P. B. Fitzwater, D. D., Chicago ; 
Elder A. H. Leaman, Chicago ; Rev. George 
E. Cooprider, Mendota, 111. 

A Free Parliament of five minute addresses 
was opened by Rev. W. L. Ferris, of Dundee, 
Illinois, who gave his four reasons for oppos- 
ing Secret Societies: (1) The Bible is opposed 
to them; (2) Jesus Christ is opposed to 
them; (3) They are selfish, and (4) They are 
unmanly. Mr. Ferris spoke with feeling as 
he thought of his brave son just returned 
from the war, and he did not wish his chil- 
dren to remember their father* as unfaithful 
to the light God had given him. 

Rev. J. H. Mokma referred to the small- 
ness of the meeting, the unpopularity of the 
antisecret cause ; but he showed that living up 
to Christ's teachings antagonizes the world ; 
and yet to be identified with the church is 
faithfulness to Christ and His work and is 
a great blessing. "Mighty kings and king- 
doms fall, but Christ remains." 

Herman Newmark, a converted English 
Jew, recently from Japan, told of his search 
for a brotherhood of equality and faithful- 
ness in various lodges but in vain. Later he 
found in Christ salvation from sin, and the 
only true brotherhood. He said that the man 
who is engaged in lodge work has no disposi- 
tion for Christian work ; and the true Chris- 
tian has no time nor disposition for lodge 
work. 

Rev. Allan M. Crabtree told of his experi- 
ence, while a professing Christian, in several 
lodges ; but his pastor and his wife were faith- 
ful in prayer for him ; and at last God by His 
Holy Spirit showed him that the good deeds 
done in secret lodges were but dead works 
and that life and salvation come only through 
the shed blood of Christ our Savior. "I have 
not only been saved from hell," he said, "but 
I have "been saved from the way that leads to 
hell !" 

Rev. Van Lonkhuyzen said : "I am on your 
side because you are on God's side." He 
greatly enjoyed the testimony of the seceders 
from anti-Christian lodges and wished that all 
would come out into the light and truth. 

Mrs. Lizzie Roberson said when she was 
called to Christian work she learned that ev- 
ery affiliation with the world separates from 
Christ and the way of peace. 

Pastor A. H. Leaman spoke earnestly on 
the importance of separation of the church 
from worldly and all secret organizations. He 
urged all to take the Cynosure and gave no- 
tice of the meeting to be held in the evening. 
Adjournment. 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



117 



An interesting evening session was held. 
Rev. W. B. Stoddard presiding at which ses- 
sion an offering was received and addresses 
were given by Thomas A. Maxwell, evan- 
gelist, Lincoln, Nebr., on "The New Day" 
and Rev. A. B. Bowman, secretary of the Gen- 
eral United Brethren Christian Endeavor So- 
ciety, who spoke of "The Church Behind the 
Reform." 

After music and prayer came the final ad- 
journment. 

Mrs. N. E. Kellogg, 
Recording Secretary. 



Letters to the Annual Meeting have been re- 
ceived from the following, so far as we are 
able to determine at the present time. No 
doubt there were others. Our thanks are due 
to all for their helpful and encouraging words. 

Rev. B. E. Bergesen, Seattle, Wash.; Mrs. 
Mary C. Baker, Knoxville, Tenn. ; Louis Joh, 
Halethorpe, Maryland; Rev. A. G. Dornheim, 
Winburne, Pa. ; Elder J. Swank, Clayton, 
Ohio; Mrs. Ella Crooks, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.; 
Mrs. T. C. Goodknecht, Harvard, 111. ; G. 
Kamp, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. M. E. McKee, 
Clarinda, Iowa ; A. D. Cline, Pikeville, Ky. ; 
Arthur E. Miller, Hastings, Nebr. ; Elder M. 
Flory, Girard, 111.; Rev. Adolf P. Ebert, Oil 
City, Pa. ; Rev. Mead A. Kelsey, Plainfield, 
Ind.; C. G. Fait, Monongo, N. Dak.; J. K. 
Hoekstra, Chicago, 111. ; Thomas J. Saufley, 
Grottoes, Va. ; Mrs. Mary P. Morris, Rox- 
bury, Ohio ; Mrs. Rose N. McConnell, May- 
ville, N. Y. ; Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Lundquist, 
Laurel, Nebr. ; J. K. Howard, Kansas City, 
Mo. ; John B. Perham, Williamstown, Vt. ; 
Rev. Daniel Zwier, Hammond, Ind. ; J. L. Cun- 
ningham, Flora, Ind. ; Elder H. H. Ritter, Ma- 
bel, Oregon ; Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 
S. Dak. ; M. W. Siemiller and sisters. Block- 
ton, Iowa ; Rev. S. P. Long, D. D., Chicago, 
111. ; John H. Schutt, Chicago, 111. 



"Deserved" is written on the door of 
hell, but on the door of heaven and 
life, "The free gift." 



Trouble does not benefit people by 
its own direct influence. It is only as 
God comes with it and we receive it in 
yieldedness, obedience and confidence, 
that it is made a blessing. 



There are many women who are sin- 
gle because they are singular. 



True humility consists not so much 
in thinking meanly of ourselves, as in 
not thinking of ourselves at all. 



(The following extempore remarks were 
taken stenographically but have not been read 
or corrected by the speakers thus reported. — 
Editor.) 



MR. NEWMARK : I am a Hebrew 
Christian, or to be clearer a converted 
Jew, and as such this text comes to my 
mind, and I am very, very fond of it. 
It gives the reason why I am not a mem- 
ber of a secret society. Psa. 119:93: "I 
will never forget thy precepts, for with 
them thou hast quickened me." 

Four years ago by the reading of the 
Word of God, and without any friend 
or any person's help, but merely by the 
operation of the Holy Spirit, I accepted 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the 
Word of God has the primary place in 
my heart. I have not done very much 
reading for the last four years except 
of the Bible. The Lord knew I was to 
be a Missionary for Him, and this is the 
way He has been training me. 

Around this quoted text clusters my 
thought for the afternoon. That text 
gives the reason why I cannot have any- 
thing to do with secret societies : / re- 
member God's precepts, that is all. 

I did not suppose I would have to talk 
longer than a few minutes, so I have 
nothing prepared, but I can tell you some 
of my lodge experiences. 

The first thing I knew of the Masonic 
lodge has a relation to father. He was 
himself very anxious, as soon as he could 
afford it, to become a Freemason, and as 
I knew he always wanted to do right 
things, I thought the Lodge must be a 
good place to be in. But I remembered 
a man in London who was a grocer and a 
notorious thief; he moved some miles 
away from London, and the first thing 
we heard was that he was very popular in 
that city, and had become a Freemason. 
I wondered why men of that character 
could become a Freemason, and why 
there was no objection to their entrance 
into the Masonic lodge. 

The next time the lodge was brought 
to my attention was on my way to Japan. 
I stopped at Shanghai, and a friend said 
to me : "When you can afford it, when 
you get to Japan, join the Masonic lodge, 
because you will know the right people." 
I decided when the time came and I had 
the money to spare, I would join the 
Masonic lodge. 

When in England I hoped, while quite 
a young man, to see the brotherhood of 
all nations. When the war broke out 
I was struck dumb and I thought there 



118 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



will not now be any brotherhood formed 
between nations, so if I want a brother- 
hood, I had better try and get into the 
Masonic lodge. I went to a man whom 
I had heard was a Mason, and he said : 
"Yes," he would present me to the lodge. 
That brought me before the Worshipful 
lodge." I did not know anything about 
the lodge, I didn't care, I wanted to go 
into it for the brotherhood ; that is why 
I wished to join it. "Well," he said, 
"as you are a Jew, I will tell you that 
there are religious exercises in the lodge, 
but the name of Jesus Christ is never 
mentioned in the lodge." Of course that 
Master of the lodge, and the first thing 
he said was this : "You are a Jew, are 
you?" I said, "yes"; he said: "Well, 
we have religious sentiments in the 
satisfied me. That is why I joined it. 
Had he told me that the name of Jesus 
Christ would be mentioned, I would 
never have joined the lodge. Now that 
Jesus was left out, of course, as a Jew, 
nothing hindered me from going in, and 
I went into the lodge. 

I must tell you that in all my pre- 
vious life I was very, very self-righteous, 
particularly self-righteous. I was very 
proud of myself and I lived *as clean a 
life as I knew how, and disassociated my- 
self from any people who were living ug- 
ly and unclean lives. When I got into the 
Masonic lodge I found the very people 
I would have shunned were in there, and 
they were my brothers! I found the 
head Freemason in Japan was a man who 
had two wives living. I met some of 
these men at different places, and I 
found that I would be in danger of 
drinking with them. I had always kept 
clear from it, but these were my broth- 
ers — I didn't know what to do. 

Then the pomposity in the lodge, which 
called one of the members Worshipful 
Master ! It disgusted me. This was 
even before I became a Christian. 

It is not worth while going to lodge 
once a month, if I have anything else to 
do, was the impression that the lodge 
made on me before I became a Christian ; 
and while I was in the lodge I com- 
menced to read the Bible to find the Ma- 
sonic ceremonies in it, presumably in the 
Kings and Chronicles, but I could not 
find them there. Of course the claim is a 
lot of nonsense; as far as I know the 



whole origin of Masonry was in a beer 
house in London not many years ago. I 
do know what the Masons have to say 
about Hiram of Tyre is not according to 
the Word of God, which says that he 
completed the work. 

Just a few months after I had joined 
the lodge I came out. I will tell you 
what first led me to absent myself and 
afterwards to leave the lodge entirely. 
When I joined the lodge a friend of 
mine, a German, at least half-German 
and half -Japanese, was initiated with 
me, and he was one of the best of men; 
he was a good friend of mine ; his friends 
were not many, not the Germans at all, 
but among the Americans and English all 
the time. When the war broke out the 
Americans and English, who used to be 
his friends, turned againt him. Natu- 
rally in joining the lodge he thought that 
he would be where there was brother- 
hood and equality and friends. He was 
careful, and although he was a German, 
he was accepted in the lodge after the 
war had broken out. Very soon after- 
wards, notice was served upon him and 
other Germans, that they must absent 
themselves from the lodge during the 
war. He came and told me. 

If you will remember that I went into 
Masonry for the brotherhood and that 
was all, I did not go in to get benefits in 
business or anything of that kind. I 
asked the Worshipful Master what he 
meant by dismissing the Germans from 
the lodge, and he said: "We have to act 
according to instructions from the Grand 
Lodge in England." I said: "Why have 
they given such instructions ?" He said '. 
"It is no business of ours to inquire why ; 
we have to obey." I said : "There must 
be a reason for it." He said :"I suppose 
that in one of the lodges in England the 
Germans may have created a disturbance 
and therefore they made it a rule to put 
the Germans out." I said: 'Have you 
any reason for thinking that any Ger- 
man in the lodge here will create a dis- 
turbance?" "No," he replied. "Have 
you anything against this German?" 
"No." I said : "On what moral ground 
or right can you tell them to go out?" 
"We have to obey instructions from the 
Grand Lodge," he said. "Have you got 
to lose your individuality because you 
became a Freemason ; lose your sense of 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



119 



right ?" I asked. He said : " You know 
what you have become; you can just do 
one thing or the other, you can either 
obey or leave the lodge." I said : "If I 
was in your place, and I was the Wor- 
shipful Master, I would rather give up 
my job than be forced to do something 
I, myself, did not think was right." He 
admitted to me that as far as he was 
concerned he would rather leave the Ger- 
mans in the lodge, but he had to obey. 

I felt that the whole principle of 
brotherhood in the lodge was a fake. I 
went into the lodge to find equality; 
to find brotherhood between all races, 
and it had turned out to be a farce. And 
then I looked a little more carefully into 
the whole thing, and then realized how it 
was anti-brotherhood and anti-Christian, 
and I seceded, and wrote my testimony 
and sent it around to all the people whom 
I had known in the lodge. I tackled the 
clergyman, the very one that said the 
prayers when I went through the de- 
grees, I tackled him, but nothing could 
be done with him. ■ I find to get a 
Christian out of the lodge is almost 
harder than to get a Jew to accept 
Christ ; it is trying to knock down a well 
eighteen feet thick with your fingers. 
It is inconceivable. I have .met many 
Christian clergymen and missionaries 
who are in the lodge, and they just won't 
move. My testimony, "Why I am not 
a Freemason" I presented to one mis- 
sionary, and he said that it was one- 
sided. "You don't give the other side." 
I said : "Quite right ; only one side is 
necessary for the Christian, that is God's 
side." In Japan I met one man, head 
of a large theological seminary, who had 
been a Freemason for forty years. I 
said to him : "Can you be a Christian 
and be in the lodge?" "Oh," he says, 
"the lodge is very Christian." "But," 
I said, "in the first three degrees the 
name of Christ is never mentioned." He 
says : "Oh, yes, I know that, but in the 
last," he says, "it is very Christian. The 
funeral ceremony is very Christian.". I 
said: "Most people don't take more than 
three degrees." "Well," he said, "I am 
sorry." 

In Japan one Freemason whom I met 
one morning, said. to one who was with 
me that he had drunk twenty cocktails 
the night before at the lodge, and that 



he had to go to the doctor that morning. 
In that lodge they have the "Masonic 
Club" and that is open on Sundays as 
a counter attraction to the Church and 
there are billiards and drinking. They 
invited me when I was only through the 
second degree, to join this club. Nobody 
but a Mason could join it. That is what 
Masonry stands for in Japan. 

Over in St. Joseph, Missouri, as I 
was coming here, I was invited to speak 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church there 
and before the meeting came on, I 
learned that the pastor was a Freemason, 
and 1 went and dealt with him on the 
subject. He said: "I have been over 
here eighteen months, and I have only 
been in the lodge once." I said, if that 
is the case, you might as well come out 
altogether. He was really busy with 
evangelistic work, and he had no time 
for the lodge. I had the privilege of giv- 
ing my testimony in that Church and 
he was sitting behind me and everybody 
knew that he was a Freemason. . I had 
the wonderful blessing of hearing him 
standing up after I had finished and say- 
ing that I was quite right, and there is 
no brotherhood outside of Jesus Christ. 
I hope he is true to what he said and 
that he has come clean out of it. 

In Japan one time I was giving my 
testimony to another missionary and he 
said : "I was back in America on a 
furlough, and many tried to persuade 
me to join the lodge. I went to my 
brother who is a practising physician, 
and I said: "They advise me to join the 
lodge ; you are in it, what do you say ?" 
He said: "Keep clear of it ; I joined it. 
several years ago to help me in business, 
in my profession, and it has helped me, 
but I wish I was out of it." But he 
hadn't the courage to come out. 

I would like to tell you about an ex- 
perience in which God graciously used 
me in bringing one man to secede from 
Masonry. A young man named Larson 
lived in San Francisco. He was con- 
verted in one of Billy Sunday's meetings 
and he came out to do business in Japan. 
He had not been in Tokyo many days 
when I was told of him, and went to 
see him. I discovered that his wife was 
wearing a Masonic pin. I commenced giv- 
ing him tracts concerning Freemasonry, 
and then I discovered that he was really 



120 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



a Freemason. There was this about him 
which helped me very much in dealing 
with him. Although he was a Christian 
man he was in such a poor state of phy- 
sical health that he continually had to 
take stimulants. He was taking whisky 
or brandy daily, and I said to him : Do 
you think this is right for a Christian? 
Don't you think God will help you? He 
said: "I am asking Him to help me, but 
He does not." I said something is in 
your life that is hindering. I asked him 
if he didn't suppose that his association 
with the lodge was hindering God from 
working with him. That that perhaps 
was the one thing in his life that hin- 
dered him from getting help. 

He said: "I knew when I joined the 
lodge that I was playing with fire." 
He said he joined the lodge for 
business purposes, and also as a 
protection for his wife, for in San Fran- 
cisco if his wife walked on the street 
without a Masonic pin, he said, she was 
likely to be discourteously treated by 
Freemasons, but if she wore the pin she 
was safe. He said that before he joined 
the lodge he had read all their secrets and 
yet he went in. He said : "I knew I was 
playing with fire." 

I said, "what are you going to do?" He 
replied : "I arn not going to let anything 
stand in my way." He got on his knees 
in my room, and promised the Lord that 
he would get out of Masonry and send 
out his testimony, which later he did, and 
God helped him, and both his epilepsy 
and chronic constipation were cured. 
This was in February, 191 8, and up to 
the present time he is absolutely well. 
God honored his secession from the 
lodge. He said he was willing to give 
up anything else that God wanted him 
to, but God showed him nothing else. He 
wrote to his lodge and told them that he 
would have nothing more to do with the 
lodge and they sent him a letter, telling 
him to come over from Japan and ap- 
pear before them, stating that he had 
been guilty of unmasonic conduct. It 
pleases me to have this testimony, be- 
cause as I go around I find so many 
people who are helped by his experience. 

On the car the other day, when I 
handed a man a tract on "salvation," he 
said : "This is my church ; this is my 
religion," and he pointed to a Masonic 



button. I told him he would be lost if 
he was depending on anything else but 
the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, 
that Masonry was absolutely false. I 
know the inside and the outside and what 
real salvation is. It is a pleasure to 
stand here and be able to say these few 
words to you. 

I am having my personal testimony of 
how I became a Christian, published, in 
which I am bringing in the fact that I 
could find no brotherhood in secret so- 
cieties, but had found brotherhood in 
Jesus Christ. What a wonderful privi- 
lege it is to be a Christian. As a Free- 
mason I could go all over this land and 
not be known, unless I pushed myself 
somewhere, but as a Christian doors open 
everywhere, and I have brothers and 
sisters, not only by the thousand but by 
the million, and they all love me. I know 
that is true because it is how I feel to- 
ward my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Well the whole system of secret socie- 
ties, whether Masonic or otherwise, is 
Baal worship ; it is not Christian worship. 
I have been reading some of the religious 
nonsense of the Eastern Star. Where 
they got in the Bible that fifth woman 
Electa from I do not know, but they tell 
me that she is in the Bible somewhere. 
There is no mention of her in the Bible, 
is there? 

MR. PHILLIPS : The Bible speaks 
of "the elect lady." (2 John 1.) Thus 
an adjective becomes a member of the 
Eastern Star. 

MR. NEWMARK: That is a small 
change, is it not? In the Eastern Star 
it is stated that once you have sworn to 
a thing you are absolutely held to it 
forever. I thank God as far as I am 
concerned, that if I confess my sins, He 
is faithful and just to forgive my sins 
and to cleanse me from all unrighteous- 
ness. I had sworn and taken God's name 
in vain, when I took the Masonic oath. 
But God says there is a place of repent- 
ance, and I confessed that sin to God and 
I am delivered from it, and when God 
delivers me, no man can hold me re- 
sponsible, and I am at perfect peace with 
God, and I am free from the curse. 
Again I say there is no one that is really 
in active Christian work that has any 
business in the lodge. 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



121 




ALLAN CRABTREE. 

REV. ALLAN CRABTREE : "Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of 
the least of these, my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me." At eighteen years of 
age, dear friends, I entered my first sec- 
ret society because my father was a Ma- 
son ; and I looked forward to following 
in my father's steps. 

The consecration ceremony of my first 
secret society closed with these word> 
that I have just read. The consecration 
ceremony runs this way: "I now con- 
secrate and dedicate you to the noble 
work of our Order, your head, your 
heart, your hands, your feet. Your head 
that it may be quick to conceive plans of 
charity ; your heart that it may overflow 
with love for your brethren ; your hands 
that they may open with means to relieve 
distress, and your feet that they may be 
swift to run errands of mercy, and may 
the Most High guide you through life, 
that you may hear finally the Most High 
say: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." 

As a young men I believed this with all 
my heart. As an unsaved man I went 
into this Order with a good conscience, 



and I sought to be a faithful member of 
this secret society. I adopted it as my 
religion. I had no other religion and I 
began to be such a faithful member that 
I was honored with first one of the 
lower offices and then I began to climb up 
as I committed to memory the ritual, and 
was patted on the back as a good lodge 
member, and I was appointed on the 
committee to visit the sick. I enjoyed 
the privileges of being one of the good 
lodge brethren who was. faithful to my 
sick brothers, and in that lodge I finally 
went through all the chairs, becoming 
finally Sitting' Past Dictator, and was 
presented with a twenty-five dollar gold 
badge in honor of my faithful service. 
Well it gave me a good deal of pride and 
I began to think that I was a pretty good 
man. 

Other lodge men came in touch with 
me, and I with them, and they invited me 
to join their lodge, and so I joined my 
second lodge. That lodge was composed 
of men and women, and so I began to be 
a good lodge member among the men and 
women, and I went on and went through 
the chairs of that Order, and then I 
joined my third lodge. 

I was so enthusiastic about it and was 
so religiously inclined in connection with 
it, that I wanted my wife also to become 
a member of the ladies' auxiliary order, 
and also to be interested in my order and 
to get into the social swim. But my wife, 
through some cottage meetings that were 
held in our community, got saved, and 
she didn't feel inclined even to go with 
me to a social session of the lodge, but 
as I learned later she was praying for 
me, with others. I then became inter- 
ested in the cottage meetings — although 
at first I hid out, would not go to the 
first cottage meeting that was held at our 
home ; I hid behind the barn, and my 
wife came out and persuaded me to 
come in, and I became so interested after 
I had come in, that I thought "I must go 
down to the church and hear this 
preacher," and I became so interested 
in the preacher that I thought he would 
make a good lodge member and I just 
determined that I was going to get him 
into one of my lodges. He was very 
courteous and he told me he didn't have 
time ; he thanked me for my invitations ; 
didn't say anything to me against the 



122 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



lodge, and I kept interested in the 
preacher and also in the lodges. 

My lodge brethren got me more inter- 
ested in lodges, and I joined the fourth 
lodge — and yet my wife kept praying for 
me, and the Christian people kept pray- 
ing for me ; and my wife was faithful, 
and so was the preacher, in the sense that 
I could not get them to take any interest 
in the lodge, and I even went so far as 
to offer to pay the initiation fee for my 
preacher if he would join the fourth 
lodge I had become a member of. I 
was made Prelate of that lodge and 1 
thought this preacher would respect me 
if he saw I was honored to be Prelate 
of the lodge. But he most respectfully 
declined and I just didn't know what to 
do, but I did join the fifth lodge, and so I 
got into five lodges; but my wife kept 
praying for me. I guess you members of 
the National Christian Association have 
heard the story of the "jiner." I became 
one of the jiners and I prided myself in 
being a jiner. Well, as I continued to 
hear that preacher, I found there was a 
conviction of sin coming into my soul, 
and the first thing I knew I had gotten 
under very deep conviction. 

The Lord sent dear Mr. Moody down 
to that city for a. little revival campaign, 
and in Mr. Moody's meeting he got bold 
of me, and I believe God used him to 
sweep me, just in His wonderful way, 
from death into life, by his message, 
and yet I could not bear much of a tes- 
timony. I at last had a deep conviction. 
I didn't profess conversion in Mr. 
Moody's meeting, but I did later in a 
meeting which followed Mr. Moody's, 
that was led by Orval Jones, who was 
traveling with Mr. Moody. I was still 
such a lodge fellow I could not see 
much difference between the lodge and 
the Church. I was very dull, but I made 
a confession of Christ, and I kept at- 
tending the prayer meetings in this way 
— I would go to prayer meeting one Wed- 
nesday night, and go to the lodge meeting 
the next Wednesday night. I would 
compromise. Finally at the prayer meet- 
ing we used the hymn books which had 
with every hymn a verse of Scripture. 
I got the Word of God in my heart in 
that way, by attending prayer meeting 
Wednesday night and hearing the Chris- 
tians testify who habitually quoted a 



verse of Scripture. I finally got courage 
to use one of the verses, and I got in 
the habit of doing that ; then I got into 
a Bible training class, and spent about 
two years in systematic study of the 
Bible. In my two years of experience in 
that systematic Bible study in some way 
the truth got hold of me in such a won- 
derful way. 

In the meantime I publicly confessed 
Christ and went into the Church and 
began to do some personal work and 
started a little Mission of my own. I 
was still in the lodge — in five lodges — 
and nobody had ever said anything to 
me, or made any criticism about them. 
But one day I opened the Testament to 
John 14:6: "Jesus saith into him, I am 
the way, the truth and the life, no man 
cometh unto the Father but by Me," and 
it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit at 
once showed me something that no man 
had ever shown me, and that was that 
there is a difference between the teaching 
of this verse and the teaching of my 
lodge ritual. One of my lodge rituals 
had this in the closing ceremony : "When 
you come to that dark river that marks 
the unknown shore, may your hands be 
filled zvith deeds of charity, the golden 
keys that open the portals of eternity." 
And I began to compare these beautiful 
words with the words of Scripture and 
I said surely one of the two is mistaken. 
Here it says : "Jesus saith unto him, I 
am the way, the truth and the life ; no 
man cometh unto the Father but by Me" ; 
but the lodge says that the "deeds of 
charity are the golden keys that open 
the portals of eternity"; and so the con- 
viction came into my soul that I had to 
make a decision here, and that I must, 
If I am truly born again ; if I am a saved 
man — preaching Christ and Him cruci- 
fied, and preaching the risen and the 
glorified Christ, and the coming Christ 
• — surely, I must see that there is some- 
thing radically wrong about this lodge 
business ; and so I began to pray about 
it and then I began to talk to my pastor 
about it. He had been so careful not to 
offend me about my lodges, he knew I 
was conscientious about them, and he was 
afraid that he would drive me away; 
but still he had been praying for me. My 
wife also had been praying for me. 
When I went to him he was glad to bear 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



123 



his testimony. I prayed about it, and as 
I prayed about it I said I must go before 
my lodge brethren. I loved them. I had 
been faithful to them, I had made the 
very best kind of a lodge man that 1 
knew how. And yet I must now, as a 
Christian, as a born again man, as a man 
who has been shown from the Word of 
God, by God's Holy Spirit that the Lord 
Jesus Christ is the golden key, "which 
opens the portals of Heaven," and the 
only key ; and that deeds of charity are a 
blinding thing of Satan — so I must go 
before my lodge brethren and say so. 
And I had the courage to face my lodge 
and say : Brethren, I love you, but before 
God I have a testimony ; I must tell you 
that I have found the Lord Jesus Christ 
my Savior, as "the way, the truth and 
the life" ; and that "no man cometh unto 
the Father but by Him." And I must 
say to you, that while I love you, I can- 
not stand up again in the lodge either by 
my presence or in person with the ritual, 
and tell men that "the deeds of charity 
are the golden keys that open the portals 
of eternity." I must say to you that I 
most respectfully withdraw from the 
lodge. I made enemies, and yet I made 
friends. There were Christian men in 
the lodge who said : "We have never seen 
this before, and we believe you are 
right." There were others, professed 
Christian men, who turned against me 
and they said : "All the Christianity you 
have, you got in the lodge, and now you 
turn away from the lodge ; we cannot 
understand this." I said : "Brethren, it is 
not a question of whether you under- 
stand it or not ; I have been shown plain- 
ly from the Word of God, the only divine 
authority, what I am to do, and there- 
fore I am doing it, in the fear of the 
Lord, and without any malice in my 
heart toward any orte of you. You have 
my prayers. I, by the manifest grace 
of God, have been saved, and I am glad 
to say that I have been saved, not only 
from hell, but I have been saved from 
that thing that leads men to hell, the 
lodge." In my judgment the lodge leads 
many men down the broad way, the way 
of destruction and to eternal destruction. 
I offended many, but by the praise of 
God I say to you here, dear friends, it 
was my first lesson that the day of mira- 
cles was not over. It was nothing but 



a miracle, as we all agree, when God 
saves a human soul. Surely it is a mi- 
racle, friends, when a man has been 
saved and delivered from the clutches 
of secretism, as God has delivered me. 
That is my testimony. 

I am so glad for the privilege of meet- 
ing with men and women who are mem- 
bers of the National Christian Associa- 
tion. I had my first privilege of meeting 
and knowing some of you this last year 
just after coming to Chicago recently as 
a pastor ; and I am glad indeed to have 
the privilege of meeting with you today 
and bearing this simple testimony. 



Jletoa of^ur »orfe 

EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

The past has been a very encouraging 
month. Work in Iowa for three weeks 
proved to be well planned and large in 
result. The contributions aggregated 
something over one hundred dollars in 
addition to more than one hundred new 
subscriptions to our magazine. 

All will be duly acknowledged in the 
Cynosure. 

Meetings at Leighton, Otley and Prai- 
rie City, together with the larger meet- 
ings in Pella, were well sustained. 
Friends of the Reformed and Christian 
Reformed churches responded in a way 
most cheering. The farms in this dis- 
trict are large and laborers compara- 
tively few. In the midst of rushing work 
these good friends gathered at their 
churches in the heat of summer to hear 
the stranger's message, and help him on 
his way. God bless those who stand by 
in the trying times. 

Des Moines appeared much as I had 
seen it in former years. The Capitol and 
surrounding grounds had more of a fin- 
ished look, though not vet completed as 
originally planned. All available churches 
were secured by the Anti-Saloon League 
workers and some friendly pastors were 
absent from the city. My good friend 
William Kirbey arranged a hearing for 
me in his (the Friends) church and a 
few were gathered on short notice. Rain 
prevented the attendance of some. 

Ten new subscriptions to the Cyno- 
sure were secured in my stay in Cedar 



124 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



Rapids. Fortune especially favored me 
there in getting an address before a large 
company of young Lutherans of the Mis- 
souri Synod who were gathered for a 
League meeting, coupled with a Park 
outing. Pastor L T lhig was most cordial 
in arranging for me. I was told some 
thirty churches were represented in this 
gathering. 

A lecture was given in the Church of 
the Brethren, Cedar Rapids, and also a 
talk in connection with the Free Meth- 
odist Sabbath School. Free Methodist 
friends have a fine new church in this 
city largely because of the faithful ef- 
forts of Brother Benjamin Hazeltine. 

Addresses delivered at Sharon and 
Morning Sun Covenanter Churches were 
a fitting climax to the Iowa effort. I 
found the well known reform sentiments 
of the fathers still lived in these churches 
in the children. The reform flame needed 
but little fanning to cause it to burst 
forth into new life. Both pastors and 
people rallied to our support. Some 
forty more families in this community 
will hereafter read the Cynosure. 
"Father Allen" was especially helpful in 
this "drive." His auto did splendid ser- 
vice in our visits. 

A brief visit was made in Wheaton 
and at the Cynosure Office. I arrived 
at home in Washington the second day 
of July, after an absence of two months. 
I responded to an invitation to preach 
in the Brethren Church, Washington, 
D. C, July 6th, and spent a few days 
looking up some interests in Virginia. 
Visits to Alexandria and Fairfax, Vir- 
ginia, were helpful. On Sabbath, July 
13th, I was privileged to speak in the 
Mechanics Grove, Pennsylvania, Church 
of the Brethren and Mennonite 
Churches. In the latter place I delivered 
an antilodge address to a full house, the 
friends of the former church uniting in 
this service. A contribution of ten dol- 
lars was given in the aid of our work. 

In response to an inquiry regarding 
the "Ancient Order of Sleeping Ground- 
Hogs'' I had to admit that that was a 
new one to me. I am told that some of 
the merchants of Quarryville, Pennsyl- 
vania, are connected with an organiza- 
tion calling itself "Sleeping Ground- 
Hogs. " The Order so far as I could 
learn is for convivial purposes. A feast 



being had at the time the "Sleeping 
Ground Hog" is supposed to awaken in 
the Spring. While such an Order would 
seem to be right in line with the modern 
lodge trend, it seems strange that men 
with the sense merchants usually pos- 
sess could be found patronizing an Or- 
der with such a name. One would think 
they could select from the Lodge circus 
of birds and animals another name with- 
out resorting to the under ground hog. 
Doubtless a "sleeping ground-hog" 
would be of some value if he had not 
slept too long, but what shall we think 
of those selecting such a name for an 
organization where they expect to ex- 
pend time and money? Is life so little 
a serious matter now that it can be 
wasted in such folly? Is the trend of 
the time leading us to become beasts 
rather than men? Surely we should 
think seriously and not join in follies 
that waste both time and money. 

I am now, at this writing, at work in 
Lancaster County, the "garden spot" of 
the Keystone State. The market men tell 
me they are selling more food than ever 
since the "dry spell" began. Money for- 
merly invested in the saloon is evidently 
being expended for food. Weather is 
fine. Corn is growing. Prospects are as 
bright as the promises of God. It seems 
good to live again in the glad summer- 
time after all we have come through in 
the past year. 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT. 

REV. F. J. DAVIDSON. 

Dear Cynosure: Thou didst come 
this blessed July brim full of good news 
and joyful tidings as usual. The many 
good and encouraging addresses at the 
Annual Meeting all help to inspire and 
create new zeal. Thank God I am still 
on the firing line in the very thick of the 
fray. Since my last letter I have preached 
and lectured as follows : Two sermons 
and one lecture at the Israel Baptist 
Church, where I received a small dona- 
tion and also secured one Cynosure sub- 
scription. This church has a very large 
membership but without a pastor. Secret- 
ism is very strong among its members, 
but they paid good attention to my ad- 
dresses. Deacon Hunt was the chief in- 
strument in getting me before them. I 
have preached at St. Marks Fourth Bap- 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



125 



tist Church, the oldest and one of the 
strongest Negro Baptist Churches in the 
city. The pastor, Rev. J. Acox, an ar- 
dent secretist, is and has been very sick 
for five months and is now confined to 
his room. I conducted a fifteen days' 
meeting at Central Baptist Church, 
where two were hopefully saved and a 
number accepted prayer. The gatherings 
were small but earnestly seeking after 
truth. They gave me an offering of $10. 
The Central Baptist Church is the only 
Negro Congregation in this wicked city 
fully contending for a whole Gospel and 
complete salvation by faith in Jesus 
Christ. Their membership is small, and 
loyal. They have purchased two splen- 
did lots and are now erecting a house 
of worship where a whole Gospel can 
be proclaimed without fear or favor. Op- 
position is very great but they have de- 
clared "In the name of our God, we will 
set up our banner." This is the little 
church I organized the 27th of August, 
last year. We ask the prayers of all of 
the faithful in the Lord and if any of 
the Cynosure family feel able to con- 
tribute to our building a small offering 
it will be accepted with gratefulness and 
applied to help further His blessed 
Cause. It seems that persecutions of the 
Negroes in the South are more frequent 
this year than they have been for years 
past. The daily papers do not accurately 
describe these atrocities, and what they 
do say is to paint the Negro as an out- 
law, a barbarian, and a human hyena. It 
is almost unbelievable to a rational mind 
to picture the real acts of injustice and 
outrages committed on the Negroes in 
this great Southern Metropolis, but my 
advice to the race is to "Draw nigh to 
God, and He will draw nigh to you." 
Cease your false worshiping and bowing 
at strange altars, be patient, endure long 
suffering, obey the law, trust in God, live 
soberly, righteously, and practice indus- 
try and economy and God will bring your 
deliverance to pass in due time. 



LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER. 

Dear Cynosure : 

This time of my letter writing finds 
me in Buffalo, New York. However, to 
go back a little — I was invited to speak 
right after the Annual Meeting to the 
women of Rev. A. H. Leaman's Church, 



where was held the N. C. A. Annual 
Meeting. Sister Amanda Leaman, the 
pastor's good wife, invited me. The Lord 
blessed me in meeting so many good 
women. Sister Leaman is a worker. She 
is a true helper to her husband and the 
other dear women of this Mennonite 
Church. 

My subject was "The Wife, Man's 
Lawful Consort Is a Type of the 
Church" (Eph. 5:22-33). I showed the 
women that wives must be subject. Paul 
here is talking to the Ephesian Church 
and shows that the head of every man 
is Christ, and the head of the woman is 
the man, and the head of Christ is God. 
Therefore as the Church is subject to 
Christ so let the wives be to their own 
husbands in everything (Verses 24 and 
25). Husbands are to love their wives 
even as Christ also loved the Church 
and gave Himself for it. The sisters 
seemed delighted with the message the 
Lord gave me for the women and Rev- 
erend and Sister Leaman asked me to 
come again. They gave me a liberal of- 
fering. 

I stopped at Elder William Roberts' 
Mission in Chicago the next night. Here 
the Devil got mad about Masonry and 
threw two big stones at me through the 
rear door. Well, the disciple is not above 
his Master nor the servant above his 
Lord. Bless the Lord and let us shout 
glory, hallelujah ! They stoned Stephen 
to death. I said to the audience, "Well, 
I have not yet resisted unto blood striv- 
ing against sin" (Heb. 12:4). 

I left Chicago the tenth of June and 
came to Detroit, Michigan, and had a 
meeting at Elder G. W. Johnson's Mis- 
sion for six nights, and also for six 
nights at Elder Isaiah Wynas' Mission. 
Both are pastors in "The Church of God 
in Christ." I did not leave a sin un- 
touched if I knew of it. The white people 
of Detroit also asked me to come back. 
Everybody seemed to be delighted to 
hear the pure Word of God. 

We left Detroit for Cleveland, Ohio, 
and I lectured five nights at Elder Mock 
E. Javas' Mission. The Devil got mad 
here and tried to interrupt me one night. 
A great, big black man sitting within 
two feet and right in front of me and 
looking me straight in the face began to 
deny the Word. I said, "Hush, man. 



126 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



August, 1919. 



while I am talking. Thou unclean spirit 
of the Devil — the Word of God shut 
your mouth." I also said, "Man, don't 
contradict God's Word. The Word of 
the Lord is right" (Ps. 34). He had on 
his lodge pin, but he did not say a word. 
He wrote a note and gave it to Elder 
Mock and then left. He, himself, was a 
preacher, but one of the Modern Proph- 
ets of Baal. They cannot stand the Word 
of the Lord. 

I am leaving here Wednesday, July 
9th, to hold another meeting in Detroit, 
Michigan. I shall be in Omaha, Ne- 
braska, on the 20th of July, the Lord 
willing. 

I was really delighted with the Annual 
Meeting of the N. C. A. I was sorry I 
did not see Dr. Charles A. Blanchard. I 
was glad to see Elder W. B. Stoddard. I 
hope before I go to my final sleep to 
have the privilege of visiting Wheaton 
College. I am always glad to see Brother 
Phillips and was glad to see Sister W. I. 
Phillips and Brother James E. Phillips' 
wife and boys and dear Sister N. E. Kel- 
logg and all the brave ministers of God 
who were present and who preach a 
whole gospel. Men who hazard their 
lives for the Cause of Christ. 

I was so glad to hear read the letter 
from dear Sister Bailey of Dermott, 
Arkansas. The Devil can't scare that 
woman. She is God's woman, and is a 
quiet, modest, sweet Christian woman 
and well educated. She stood bravely 
with good Elder I. G. Bailey until he 
fell asleep in Jesus. Two of her chil- 
dren have moved to Heaven since he left. 
Sister Bailey still goes to the great meet- 
ings and gives out antisecret tracts. She 
does it in a quiet w r ay, and no one dares 
to tackle her for she always has her 
Bible with her to shut the Devil's mouth. 
God bless Sister Bailey ! May she live 
long in the good work of the Lord 
against the evils of secret societies. 

Our Jesus had no secret to keep from 
the people. That is one reason why I 
know that He was not a Mason. 

Yours for Him who said, "I am the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life." 

Lizzie W. Roberson. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 

John L. Sawyer, 50c ; C. C. Enestveldt, 
$1 ; E. M. Manter, $5; M. V. Reynolds, 
$3 ; Iowa Christian Association, per 
President A. M. Malcolm, $30; Wm. I. 
Phillips, $10; E. Star, $5; G. Stobb, $3; 
T. Apple, $2; Est. C. E. Temple, $95- 
Mary P. Morris, $6; P. J. Bunge, $2; 
Wm. Leon Brown, $15 ; Laura L. Heath, 
$5 ; M. Flory, $3 ; A. G. Dornheim, $3 ; 
N. S. Coleman, $5 ; F. McLaughlin, $1 ; 
O. N. Carnahan, $5 ; A. Ebert, $1 ; Clara 
E. Morrell, $1; C. G. Fait, $4; M. C. 
Baker, $1 ; T. J. Saufley, $6; J. E. Phil- 
lips, $5 ; Louis Joh, $1 ; Hedda Worces- 
ter, $3 ; E. E. Bowman, 50c ; J. B. Per- 
ham, $1 ; W. S. Orvis, $2.50; J. B. Bar- 
rett, $2 ; C. C. Courtney, $3 ; Mrs. M. E. 
McKee, $5; G. Kamp, $1 ; Lizzie W. 
Roberson, $2; A. D. Cline, $2.50; H. H. 
Ritter, $5 ; Mrs. E. Crooks, $1 ; Mr. and 
Mrs. E. E. Lundquist, $4; R. M. Mc- 
Connel, 25c ; J. C. Berg, $20; M. W. Sie- 
miller and sisters, $51; J. B. Van den 
Hoek, $1 ; collections in Pastor Lea- 
mann's Mennonite Church, $11.14; Mrs. 
S. E. Bailey, $5 ; L. Hacault, $2 ; Fred 
Eva, 95c; J. Holman, $27 ; Charles L. 
Todd, $50; T. O. Smith, $1 ; G. J. En- 
nis, $4 ; G. R. Hartman and family, $1 ; 
H. J. Mulder, $10; Mrs. C. Hillegonds, 
$5 ; E. E. E. Bailey, $5 ; F. L. McClel- 
land, $1 ; Mrs. Mary Templeton, $5. 

From Christian Reformed Churches : 
Volga, South Dakota, $21.11 ; Prinsburg, 
Minn., $12.50; Illinois Classes, $71.54; 
Hope Ave., Passaic, N. J., $15.50; Zee- 
land, Michigan, III, $2.90; Muskegon, 
Michigan, II, $20; Ladies' Aid, Muske- 
gon, Michigan, II, $5 ; 14th Street, Hol- 
land, Michigan, $27.10; Franklin Street, 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, $16.94. 

W. I. Phillips, Treasurer. 



The lives of those who truly love God 
are sure to produce a hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness in others. 



To do good to men is the great work 
of life ; to make them true Chris- 
tions is the greatest good we can do 
them. 



Keeping ourselves ignorant of human 
needs will never excuse us for not reliev- 
ing them. 



The talent of success is nothing more 
than doing what you can do well and 
doing well whatever you do, without 
a thought of fame. 



August, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



127 



TESTIMONIES OF STATESMEN 

"DANIEL WEBSTER 
American States- 
man and Jurist 



1 ' I have no hesitation in saying that how- 
ever unobjectionable may have been the 
original objects of the institution, or however 
pure may be the motives and purposes of the 
individual members, and notwithstanding 
the many great and good men who have 
from time to time belonged to the order, 
yet, nevertheless, it is an institution which 
in my judgment is essentially wrong in the 
principle of its formation 5 that from its very 
nature it is liable to great abuses ; that among 
the obligations which are found to be im- 
posed on its members, there are such as are 
entirely incompatible with the duty of good 
citizens; and that all secret associations, the 
members of which take upon themselves 
extraordinary obligations to one another, and 
are bound together by secret oaths, are nat- 
urally sources of jealousy and just alarm to 
others; are especially unfavorable to harmony 
and mutual confidence among men living 
together under popular institutions, and are 
dangerous to the general cause of civil liberty 
and good government. Under the influence 
of this conviction it is my opinion that the 
future administration of all such oaths, and 
prohibited by law." — Letter dated Boston, November 

U. S. GRANT 

are dangerous to any nation, no matter how pure or 
first bring them together. ' ' — In his autobiography. 



[• 








ilk 


r'" 


; 






■ 



DANIEL WEBSTER 

the formation of all such obligations, should be 
20, 1835. 

GENERAL 

"All secret, oathbound political parties 
how patriotic the motives and principles which 

CHARLES SUMNER 

Eminent American States- 
man, Senator and Orator 

(( I find two powers here in Washington 
in harmony, and both are antagonistical to 
our free institutions, and tend to centraliza- 
tion and anarchy — Freemasonry and Slavery, 
and they must both be destroyed if our 
country is to be the home of the free, as our 
ancestors designed it.'' — Letter to Samuel 
D. Greene, Chelsea, Mass. 

CHARLES FRANCIS 
cADAMS 

"Every man who takes a Masonic oath 
forbids himself from divulging any criminal 
act, unless it might be murder or treason 
that may be communicated to him under the 
seal of fraternal bond, even though such 
concealment were to prove a burden upon 
his conscience and a violation of his bounden 
duty to society and to his God. 

"A more perfect agent for the devising 
and execution of conspiracies against Church 
and State could scarcely have been con- 
ceived. •' 




CHARLES SUMNER 



STANDARD WORKS 

ON 

Secret Societies 

FOR SALE BY THE 

National Christian Association, 
MODERN PROPHETS of BAAL 

OR 

WATCHMEN on ZION'S WALLS 

By President C. A. Blanchard. 

This is a tract especially intended for ministers. The term Baalism in referring to 
Masonry is used figuratively. "If we say Lord to any one who is not God, then we 
are worshipers of Baal and if we, who are religious teachers, call any one Lord 
except the true God, then we are prophets of Baal." This tract, in addition to setting 
forth the real relation of Masonic ministers to a heathen system, also gives the reasons 
why Christian preachers become prophets of Baal. 

In the appendix there is a chapter on Masonic Theology, taken from Mackey's "Masonic 
Ritualist", the author being the well known Past General Grand High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States. There is also A Word to Bible Students, by Dean 
J. M. Gray, D. D., of the Moody Bible Institute, and there is a page of Bible quotations 
which are important in this connection. 

Thirty-two pages; Single copies three cents, per hundred, $2.00 postpaid. 

Address 

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago Ills. 



Knights of Columbus 

ILLUSTRATED 

A COMPLETE RITUAL AND HISTORY OF THE FIRST 
THREE DEGREES, INCLUDING ALL SECRET 
"WORK", FULLY ILLUSTRATED BY A FORMER 
MEMBER OF THE ORDER. 

This work gives the proper position of each officer during the 
meetings, the proper manner of conducting the business of 
the Knights of Columbus, order of opening and closing 
of the Lodge, dress of candidates, ceremony of initiation; giving 
the signs, grips, pass words, etc. Convenient pocket size. 

Paper Covers - - - $ .75 
Cloth - 1.00 

National Christian Association 

850 W. Madison Street CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 




VOL. LII. 




3 



CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1919. 




Rev. Robert M. Russell, D. D. 



No. 5 




OFFICIAL ORGAN* NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJTOCIATION 
10 CENTC A COPY EJTABUJHED I86S WO A YEAR 



VOL. LII. 



CHICAGO 



No. 5. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if w.e are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu* 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
lit the Post Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
\lar2a 3, 1879. 



"Lizzie Woods' Letter" 155 

Southern Agent's Report, Rev. F. J. 
Davidson 156 

From Our Mail 157 

Two Insurance Fraternities 158 

Fraternal Reserve Association. 

Beavers National Mutual Benefit Asso- 
ciation. 

Does It Pay? by Rev. S. C. Kimball 159 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

CONTENTS M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 

Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 

Dr. Robert M. Russell, photograph (See P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 

Article, page 148) Cover George ^^ A R Leaman> George 

K. of C. Fraternizing with Freemasons. ... ^ , T TX __ TT • 

—Fortnightly Review 131 W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra ana H. J. 

Musings, by Rev. W. B. Stoddard 131 Kuiper. 

The Antiquity of Freemasonry, by Presi- — 

dent C. A. Blanchard 132 

c . 1 tt * ■*•■ u w t LECTURERS. 

Sororities and Fraternities, by Wm. Leon 

■p 1 Q JT 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 

Xot Friends But Enemies of the Church, . . . 

by Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek 137 may write to any of the speakers named 

Another Worker Promoted, Obituary, below : 

1. R. B. Arnold 138 

The Closed Shop, by Rev. J. M. Coleman 139 R ev . W. B. Stoddard, 3118 Fourteenth 

The Attitude of a Christian Towards gt N> W Washington, D. C. 

Secret Societies, by Rev. P. B. Fitz- & 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 

Masonic Camouflage — Fortnightly Review 148 

a a 1 1 p. ■.. \ ,;.-. 1 T . South Dakota. 

An Address on Education of Vital Inter- 
est, by Rev. Robert M. Russell 148 -,-, t- t t^ -j *u cv 

y Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 

Is It Rebellion? by J. R. Kaye, Ph. D., J D 

LL. D 152 New Orleans, L*i. 

News of Our Work: M Uzz[ w Roberson, 311 W. 24th 

South Dakota Report, Rev. J. B. Van ' ° ^ 

den Hoek 153 St., Argenta, Ark. 

Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W. B. 
Stoddard 154 Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 
*. —Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have I 
said nothing. 
—John 18:20 



K. OF C. FRATERNIZING WITH 
FREEMASONS, 

Fraternal greetings were exchanged 
the other day at Fargo, N. Dak., between 
the Scottish Rite Masons and the Knights 
of Columbus. We reprint the respective 
letters from the Fargo Forum of June 
6th, page io: 

Greetings of the Masons. 

In view of the fact that during the past 
week in the city of Fargo, N. D., there 
have assembled three great fraternal or- 
ganizations, of which we are assured that 
one of the fundamental principles is the 
brotherhood of mankind, regardless of 
creed or opinion, we, the members of the 
June, 1919, class of Ancient and Accept- 
ed Scottish Rite, wish to extend greetings 
to the members of the Knights of Colum- 
bus and Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, and assure them of our heartiest 
good wishes in the furtherance of all the 
principles of that greater fraternity of 
which we are all members. 

Scottish Rite Class, June, 1919, by M. 
L. Hibbard, president. 

Reply of the K. of C. 

The Knights of Columbus of North 
Dakota sincerely appreciate the friendly 
spirit expressed in the cordial greetings 
received today from the Scottish Rite 
Class of 1 919, now assembled in Fargo. 
We regard the message as a herald of a 
new era, the dawning of a new day, in 
which clouds of misunderstanding will 
be dispelled under the clear light of truth 
and charity, making possible the great 
ideal of the Brotherhood of Man. We 
wish to assure the members of the An- 
cient and Accepted Scottish Rite of our 
reciprocal feelings of good will and of 
our sincere desire to co-operate with 
them in the furtherance of every lofty 
principle and in the promotion of a bet- 
ter understanding between all classes, to 
the end that the ideal fraternalism for 



which we both strive may be the more 
quickly and adequately realized. 

Knights of Columbus of North Da- 
kota, by George McKenna, state deputy. 

Such fraternization, in our opinion, is 
wrong and dangerous. No true Catholic 
can consistently hail "the brotherhood of 
man" (as understood by Freemasonry), 
"regardless of creed or opinion," as "the 
dawning of a new day," and offer to co- 
operate with an organization which is 
notoriously the sworn enemy of the 
Church, in bringing about that "ideal fra- 
ternalism" which would spell the aboli- 
tion of dogmatic Christianity and the 
substitution in its place of a religious 
system that is essentially pagan.— The 
Fortnightly Review (Catholic), July. 
1919. 



MUSINGS. 

A colored mother watched her off- 
spring whirling about on a merry-go- 
round and when she saw him get off at 
the place where he started, she ex- 
claimed, "Rastus, you spends your 
money, but where you been?" He was 
very much like the boy who paid his hard 
earned money to see the "fat lady and 
the skeleton man" in the "Big Show." 

The lodge man always gets something 
for his money, for sometimes he sees the 
skeleton and sometimes he feels the 
"spanker!" 



Some join lodges with strange names 
in the same spirit that the young woman 
got married. When she was told by her 
lover that he was a somnambulist, she 
replied, "Oh, that makes no difference. 
I expect to join your church!" 

No brains ; an "Owl's Nest" may do 
for such. 



The boy who poured water on the corn 
crib that he might drown the rats would 



13: 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



appear wise beside the man who gives 
his money to a lodge expecting to get 
value received. 



Many of the birds and animals have 
had their names taken in vain by the 
lodge organizers. Will it be the bugs' 
turn next? How would "Hum-bug" do 
for a name? 1 



When passing through Indiana recent- 
ly I saw a sign that read, "Yellow Creek 
Ducks," and thought, "If that is the name 
of a secret society it is hard on the 
ducks." 

W. B. Stoddard. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY 

PRESIDENT CHARLES A. BLANCHARD, 
WH EATON COLLEGE, WH EATON, ILL. 

One who observes the signs of the 
times learns much of the battle between 
good and evil, light and darkness. For 
example, the liquor business for many 
years lived by its appeal. to the appetites 
of men. Politicians favored it, because 
every saloon was a political center and 
saloon keepers were very effective agents 
for ambitious politicians. Distillers, 
brewers, saloon keepers and their em- 
ployees were in the business for the 
money they could get out of it. It re- 
quires very little intelligence to minister 
to a vice. A Missouri stage driver once 
said to me, "You will never down the 
whiskey business so long as there are 
eight cents of profit in a ten-cent drink." 

Moderate drinkers liked the liquor 
shop because it afforded a center for so- 
cial gatherings of a certain sort. The 
man who had neglected his wife and 
children until his home was the abode of 
squalor, his children a reproach, his wife 
broken-hearted and resentful, these men 
like to sit amid the dirt, sawdust and to- 
bacco spit of a saloon. The smoke, the 
lewd pictures and lewd talk, all were 
attractive. As Lincoln said, "For a man 
who likes that sort of a thing, that is 
just the sort of a thing he would like." 
There was very little difference between 



the liquor business of those days and of 
today. It did not live by appeals to the 
reason, but by lures addressed to the 
lusts. 

When the years of protest and agita- 
tion began to bear fruit, all at once there 
was a movement on the part of liquor 
men toward the public press. Large ad- 
vertisements covering at times whole 
pages in costly papers were purchased in 
order to subsidize the press and to pro- 
duce an impression upon the public. 
Secret Societies Idolaters. 

Lodges live very much as the liquor 
trade did. Certain men are interested 
in them because they desire public of- 
fice. Men of small ability but large am- 
bitions feel that they can be elected to 
positions of power and financial desira- 
bility if they can get somebody to boost 
them. This accounts for a large class of 
persons who belong to and argue for 
secret societies. 

Another class of men belong to lodges 
in the hope of securing money. Law- 
yers wish clients, physicians desire pa- 
tients, preachers are looking for pulpits, 
merchants want customers, and all these 
persons, when of a certain intellectual 
and moral type, naturally drift into the 
orders. They do not go into them for 
any good which they can do, but for 
some good which they hope to get. 

A third class of men are instinctively 
criminals, even before they become law 
breakers. They meditate ways and 
means of securing things which they de- 
sire by unlawful methods. Rightly or 
wrongly many such men believe that 
membership in secret orders will be a 
protection against penalty in case it be 
required. 

The head of the secret service of the 
United States said to me in the treasury 
building in Washington that he had told 
his lodge that he must be excused from 
his Masonic oaths as long as he was in 
the secret service department. He said 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



133 



arresting, as he had to do, thousands of 
counterfeiters, mail robbers and circu- 
lators of counterfeit currency every year, 
he could not have men pinching his 
knuckles, giving him signs, whispering 
passwords into his ears continually ; so he 
said, "I got excused from my lodge ob- 
ligations while I am to be in this office." 
While there are no doubt many lodge 
men who are upright and honorable citi- 
zens, this United States official found 
many of another sort. It is apparent 
that these men went into lodges to se- 
cure the protection for which they after- 
ward asked. 

Working Washington Overtime. 

No one who studies the lodge question 
with any degree of intelligence has failed 
to observe that in these days the lodges 
are not relying upon their secret meth- 
ods of securing adherents as they for- 
merly did. Daily, weekly and monthly 
publications are every now and again 
printing articles intended to attract men 
to the orders. Although every man who 
has studied the history of Washington 
as a Mason knows that he was not in 
any true sense of the word a member of 
that order, yet writers are continually 
advertising him as a Freemason. His 
pictures in Masonic regalia have for 
many years been used in the lodges, but 
these articles of which I speak are an- 
other and different thing. • They are a 
public propaganda for the purpose of 
securing members. Those who have read 
my booklet, "Was Washington a Free- 
mason?" know that it is a gross misrep- 
resentation of the facts in the case to 
speak of him as an adhering member of 
the order. He himself said that for the 
last thirty years of his life he had not 
been in any lodge more than once or 
twice. He was a careful man and a 
truthful man. It is quite possible that 
he was never in a lodge more than once 
in these many years, 



The preceding part of his life was 
spent in field and camp, so that he had 
little opportunity to attend lodges even 
if he had wished to do so. Letters ad- 
dressed to him by lodges do not appear 
in his letter books. They seem to be dis- 
tinct Masonic productions. Yet the effort 
to secure members through his pretend- 
ed fellowship with the order is continual 
and latterly is very greatly increasing. 
Of course, if he had been a Freemason it 
would prove nothing as to the character 
of the order. Beyond question he drank 
intoxicating liquors ; of course, he owned 
slaves ; at times under stress of great 
provocation he used profane language. 
It would be easy to extend the list of 
human infirmities. But he was on the 
whole the greatest of Americans and it 
is not strange that the lodges would like 
to secure his testimony in favor of 
their secret conclaves. They tried to get 
his testimony while he was alive. When- 
ever he was making a journey through 
the country, the lodges were on hand to 
ask him to come to the meetings, to ask 
him to say or do something which would 
prove his Masonic relationship. In spite 
of this continuous effort, he constantly 
refused doing any of these things which 
they wished him to do and apart from 
the letters and speeches which they have 
shut up in lodge rooms, but which have 
no other historic justification, his Ma- 
sonic history is one great blank. 

How Old Is Freemasonry? 

I have been led to these reflections by 
an article printed in The Literary Digest, 
June 2 ist, 1919, under the title, "Free- 
masonry, Old as the Hills, Now Said to 
Be the Parent of Religion." 

It is now nearly fifty years since I 
first began the study of Freemasonry, 
the mother of modern secret societies. I 
found at that time that the supposed 
antiquity of the order was one of the 
great arguments used by its adherents in 



134 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



its favor. "If it is evil, as you say, how 
can it have existed so long as it has?" 
This was the question continually put to 
mc by the friends of the order. Of 
course, the antiquity of the lodge would 
prove nothing in its favor. Sin is old, 
but it is sin and its wages are death. 
Satan is old, but he is an accuser of the 
brethren, an old serpent and the devil. 
But while the antiquity of Masonry, ^ 
admitted or proved, would not establish 
the character of the order as a righteous 
and worthy association, the fact that an- 
tiquity is perpetually claimed while the 
order is modern is an argument against 
the organization. Any association which 
relies upon falsehood as an argument for 
its existence is therefore to be con- 
demned. 

This article, which is printed in The 
Literary Digest, is not new in its general 
character, but it is recent and it is more 
detailed than most of the articles of like 
sort which arc now published. The au- 
thor, a New York Freemason, has been 
for some years studying the lodge sys- 
tem and in this article he seeks to show 
that it is at least four or five thousand 
years old and that it is the source of 
modern religious teaching. 

All men who have studied the lodge 
system know that it is a singular com- 
pound of Judaism, Christianity and Pa- 
ganism. The writer in the Digest 
does not give us news in regard to this 
matter, but he insists that the signs, grips 
and passwords of the lodge are supreme- 
ly significant and that the mysteries and 
pyramids of ancient nations were con- 
structed by ancient lodges which were 
the parents of the religions of today. If 
I should take some white flour which 
was grown in the time of the Pharoahs, 
some eggs which were laid in Egypt in 
the time of Moses, some sugar which was 
made from canes which also were grown 
in the time of the Pharaohs, I might ad- 



vertise my cake as a very ancient cake. 
It would be ancient as to materials, but 
if I made it it would not be ancient as a 
cake. 

Those of us who have been studying 
Masonry for many years, investigating 
its antiquity, know that it was a combi- 
nation of ancient paganisms with a small 
amount of Christian teaching added. So 
much for its materials. 

Christianity is old. Paganism is old, 
but Freemasonry is not as old as the 
materials out of which it is composed. 
It is as old as it is. Respecting its an- 
tiquity, we do not have the slightest dif- 
ficulty in knowing the exact facts of the 
case. All intelligent Freemasons have 
known and admitted for many years that 
the order is in the neighborhood of one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred years 
old. In June of this year it became two 
hundred and two years old, to be exact. 
We know the place where it was born, 
the names of some of the men who orig- 
inated it, the sources from which its 
signs, symbols and obligations were de- 
rived. These elements were very largely 
pagan and they belong, as The Literary 
Digest article intimates, to ancient Egypt. 
China, Greece, Rome and the Scandi- 
navian countries. The ancient mythol- 
ogies are not lost; we have them. We 
know what they are ; from whence they 
came and what they did for the people 
among whom they existed. Just so we 
know where Masonry came from, who 
made it, what it is made of and what its 
effect is upon the character and lives of 
those who adhere to it. 

I suppose the most thorough-going 
American student of Masonic antiquities 
was Professor T. C. Parvin, for years 
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, 
Librarian of the Masonic Library located 
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and an officer 
and an orator of the commandery of 
the Knights Templars for the same state. 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



3:> 



Professor Parvin's testimony on this 
question is absolutely clear and has never 
yet been disputed by any intelligent mem- 
ber of the organization. It is not likely 
to be disputed by such a person who is 
fairly honest, for the facts upon which 
he builds are numerous and unques- 
tioned. 

How Then About the Signs and Smybols? 

Some years ago Robert Morris, LL. D., 
of Louisville, Ky., made a tour in the 
interest of Freemasonry! in the near 
East. On his return he gave us an ac- 
count of his visit to Jerusalem and the 
holy places nearby where Freemasonry 
was said by some ignorant or dishonest 
lodge man to have originated. Mr. Mor- 
ris was an elder in the Presbyterian 
church, and while it was a grave mistake 
to have been identified with such a 
Christ-rejecting order as Freemasonry, 
he seems to have been on the whole an 
honest sort of a man. In his account 
of the journey he told us he could not 
find any Masonic signs and symbols and 
therefore he made some on stones here 
and there in the region which he visited. 
It was a little peculiar that he did this. 
It would have seemed more natural to 
have made these engravings one day or 
one week and then forget about them and 
then go back and find them, relating only 
the finding of them, which would be in a 
way quite true. I mention this fact be- 
cause it is probably an explanation of 
all the Masonic signs and symbols which 
have been found in ancient lands. 

Of course, the square and compass 
are not new inventions. In some form 
they have been in the world since men 
were builders. This writer says that 
they found a picture of Pharaoh with a 
three-cornered apron on. Three-cornered 
apons are not a new invention. Perhaps 
one of the Pharaohs had some dirty work 
to do and put on a three-cornered apron. 
This would be quite natural and would 



have, of course, nothing whatever to do 
with Freemasonry. 

• This article shows that the writer is 
seeking to justify an organization which 
is sadly in need of some sort of support. 
That he relies upon antiquity, when this 
is in itself a 'falsehood known by all in- 
telligent students of the order, is but one 
more proof of the fact that this organi- 
zation has for its founder and ruler that 
dark spirit who from the beginning has 
been a murderer and a father of lies. 

The assertion of this writer that Free- 
masonry is the parent of religions is 
more nearly true. It is the mother of 
many modern idolatries. It is a "mother 
of harlots." It is not true that it is 
Christian or that it is the parent of any 
Christian institution, it is a Christ re- 
jecting secret lodge. It is blasphemous 
in its dealing with the Word of God and 
the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. No 
Christian should have fellowship with 
such an unfruitful work of darkness. 



SORORITIES AND FRATERNITIES. 

BY WM. LEON BROWN. 

(A young lady who has completed her col- 
lege course and is to pursue her studies in 
higher institutions, upon being "spiked" by a 
friend to join her sorority, writes to her uncle 
for his views upon the subject. This young 
lady is conscientious and prefers to look be- 
fore she leaps. The following is her uncle's 
reply, and we think worthy of a wide reading.) 

Since you are planning soon to enter 
a university and since a large proportion 
of the students in colleges and universi- 
ties are members of sororities and fra- 
ternities, it is very natural indeed for you 
to inquire into this subject. I certainly 
do not think any less of you for wish- 
ing to investigate it from all standpoints 
and I am only pleased that you come to 
me for my objections to these societies. 

I am anxious that upon this subject, 
as upon all others, I be free from bias 
and that my language may be fair and 
reasonable. Even the best of people do 
not always see alike. Yet, if a thing is 
wrong, it would continue to be so no mat- 
ter how many good people defended it. 
and if it is right it could not be made 



136 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



wrong though all the world condemned 
it. 

My father did not ordinarily have 
much to say about secret societies, yet I * 
knew that he was opposed to them. I 
had thought very little upon the subject. 
I am not aware that I had any objections 
to them, nor was I an advocate of them. 
One day when I was about fifteen years 
of age I asked father why he objected 
to secret orders. His reply was very 
brief — I think that I can almost give his 
exact words, and here they are: "Be- 
cause I cannot make a promise that I will 
keep a secret until I first know what that 
secret is." It is more than forty years 
since my father uttered these words, but 
they have stayed with me ever since and 
nothing that I have ever heard upon the 
subject has been more convincing of the 
evil of all kinds of secret societies. In- 
deed, I carry this principle to such an ex- 
treme, as some would call it, that no one 
— not even my wife — could get me to 
promise that I would keep a secret until 
they first revealed it. 

Some would say that I should have 
such confidence in my wife that I would 
absolutely trust her in this case and feel 
assured that she would not ask me to 
keep a secret if it was not right for me 
to do so. I reply that even my wife is 
not infallible. She might be mistaken in 
this, and, besides, she should repose suf- 
ficient confidence in me to know that I 
would keep the secret if I should feel 
that it is right for me to do so, after it 
has been made known. Therefore, I 
must put a condition in my promise, viz., 
that I will keep it if, after it has been re- 
vealed, I think it is right for me to do so. 
Should I have a secret to reveal, of 
course, I must give the other party the 
privilege that I ask for myself. 

I think that there is a passage which 
sustains this position—Lev. 5 4-5. The 
thought clearly brought out in this pas- 
sage is that if a man swear that he will 
do a certain thing (without knowing at 
the time what it is) then, whether that 
thing prove to be ''to do evil, or to do 
good * * * he shall be guilty in one of 
these" — meaning, that in either case "he 
hath sinned in that thing." The time 
when he .committed the sin was when he 
made the promise — not knowing what 
he would be expected to do. This is 



exactly what every one must do in unit- 
ing with a sorority or a fraternity or any 
kind of a lodge, and here is the great 
evil— TO "PRONOUNCE WITH" A 
PROMISE OR "WITH AN OATH" 
WHEN THE THING "BE HID 
FROM US." 

I know it will be said that sororities 
and fraternities are not secret societies. 
I think that the same thing has been said 
of perhaps all of the lodges; but it is 
not true. They are all erected upon the 
same kind of a foundation. A young- 
lady, a college graduate, and also a soror- 
ity member, was under the impression 
that her sorority was not a secret society, 
and she so stated it to me. I do not 
doubt but she was perfectly innocent in 
making the statement, because it is be- 
yond comprehension how people become 
blinded in these things. I feel sure that 
she did not intend to mislead me; but, 
having a doubt as to whether she was 
correct, I asked if I might see the con- 
stitution, and by-laws of her sorority. 
She hesitated, but finally consented. 

This was several years ago, so I do 
not remember many of the things in that 
little book which savored of secrets, de- 
signed only for those who had been duly 
initiated into the society. But, regarding 
that initiation, I inquired of this young 
lady, if "she had been apprised of just 
what it would consist, or, if she could 
have obtained such information before 
being initiated? "Oh! no," she admit- 
ted. Then, I asked if her mother could 
have been present at the time and wit- 
nessed her initiation. She also gave a 
negative answer to this question. I did 
not think best to ask further questions ; 
but from her acknowledgments, I am sure 
that she was convinced that her sorority 
was a secret society. What else could it 
be, since she could not ascertain before- 
hand some of the things that were made 
known to her upon entering into it — 
since her mother could not be present at 
her initiation, and since she could not 
be true to her sorority if she were to 
inform any one of the things that take 
place in it? 

Now, there might not have been any 
thing wrong either in the initiation or 
the secrets of this sorority. Bear in 
mind that this is not the point in ques- 
tion. It matters not whether she had 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



137 



promised "to do evil, or to do good" — 
she "sinned" in making that promise, be- 
cause the thing was "hid from her." 
Again, presuming that sororities and 
fraternities have nothing seriously bad 
in them, they are as a kindergarten — a 
stepping-stone to greater evils. There 
seems to be in this day a complete net- 
work of secret orders that have been con- 
ceived and wrought out by a master- 
mind — a mind more than human, even 
the "prince of this world." These be- 
gin, may I say, in the sorority and fra- 
ternity and terminate in masonry and 
other lodges. 

I could not believe the awful charges 
that are brought against these lodges, 
and especially masonry, were they not 
attested to by multitudes of the best men 
in all the world. These men had been 
led into the lodge, but upon witnessing 
the terrible evils therein, felt compelled 
not only to withdraw but to cry aloud, 
exposing these evils and warning others 
to stay out. One seceder, E. Y. Wooley, 
associate pastor of The Moody Church, 
who had been high up in masonry, a 
Knight Templar, told me that "the lodge 
is a delusion and a snare." 

I spoke in the beginning of this let- 
ter about your desire to investigate this 
subject from all standpoints; but, as I 
view it, this is one of the extremely un- 
reasonable things about secret societies — 
WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO IN- 
VESTIGATE THEM. If they were 
fair they would not hold their meetings 
"in a corner," but they would allow visi- 
tors, especially those who had thoughts 
of uniting with them, to attend their 
meetings and every thing would be open 
and above board. But the reason why 
they shrink from such an investigation 
is because they are afraid of it and be- 
cause "they love darkness rather than 
light, because their deeds are evil." 

I readily grant that if we stand aloof 
from secrecy in these days, we will go 
against wind and tide. This we must 
do whether in school, in business or in 
the professions. But, let them ostracize 
us and try to injure us in every way 
that they can (I speak from experience), 
there is One W T ho will stand with us 
when we are in the right, and it is bet- 
ter to be alone with Him, than to be 



We have a description given in the 
Scriptures of what the world will be like 
in the last days. I cannot think of any 
one agency that is doing more to bring 
things to such a climax, than is the se- 
cret order system. But, if we follow 
the example of Him Who said : "In 
secret have I said nothing," I think that 
we can easily determine just what atti- 
tude we should take with regard to all 
of these secret orders. 



NOT FRIENDS BUT ENEMIES OF 
THE CHURCH. 

BY" REV. J. B. VAN DEN HOEK. 

Wherever you go, it's the same thing. 
Talk with a member of any lodge, men- 
tion the danger of the lodge, and the an- 
swer will be: "My lodge will make me 
a better Christian ; no, the lodge helps 
the church ; we have nothing that is 
against the Bible." Sure enough, some 
of these men and women are in earnest. 
They have never made a thorough in- 
vestigation of the predominating spirit 
in the lodge. 

I find lodge members everywhere so 
ignorant. They often don't know many 
things about their own system. Much 
less do they know what Scripture re- 
quires of a good Christian. With a few 
exceptions the lodge member is a secret 
enemy of the church. He may not see 
it. How can it be otherwise? Only a 
small number of these men and women 
are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. 

Let me tell you, as proof of my state- 
ment, what some time ago a prominent 
female lodge member said in a moment 
of carelessness. The lady who told me 
still holds there is much good in the "Se- 
cret Empire." But staying with her a 
few days, she was honest enough to tell 
me the real truth about the matter. She 
told me I shoulVT not use her name. She 
said : "I belonged to the Ladies of the 

Maccabees of the World at . I 

went in for the insurance only. But T 
did not like the meetings. Moreover, 
my Lutheran Church does not allow me 
to be a member of a secret society. Once 
I came into a meeting of my lodge, after 
I had stayed away for a long time, when 
the 'Record Keeper.' who was also the 

doctor of the lodge in , said to me. 

Miss - — , why don't you come to 



rong and. have all the world traveling our i oc jg e meetings?' I answered, 'Be- 



ith us. 



cause it does not agree with my Church !' 



138 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



'Ah.' said the "Record Keeper," Dr. 

. 'Send your Church to Hell!' 

That was an eyeopener to me, says Miss 
, "and I left my lodge." 

That prominent lady-lodge-sister 
claimed, at the same time, that the lodge, 
her lodge, was "founded upon the Bible, 
and that the lodge helped the Church! ! /" 

Enemies of the Church. My brother, 
come out of them. You have now tram- 
pled upon your conscience long enough. 
It is now the eleventh hour for you ! 
Come out from the System which cruci- 
fies Christ, our dear Lord, 



anew 



ANOTHER WORKER PROMOTED. 

PRESIDENT CHARLES A. BLANCHARLT, 
WH EATON, ILL. 

In the fall of 1869 1 first met our 
friend and fellow soldier, Mr. I. R. B. 
Arnold. I was drawing a pail of water 
from a cistern north of our house when 
a gentleman whom I had never seen came 
up the walk and asked me if my father 
was at home. I replied that he was not, 



that he 



was in 



N 



ew 



England laboring' 



for the college. This gentleman said, "I 
am very sorry. I have engaged a church 
at Kingston for him to give an address 
against Freemasonry. Could you come ?" 

I was at the time twenty years of age. 
I had no more idea of lecturing on Free- 
masonry or any other subject than I 
have now r of running a railroad train to 
the moon. • Providentially, however. I 
had been studying the subject for a year. 
I knew what I thought was the truth in 
regard to Freemasonry and kindred or- 
ganizations and I saw no reason why I 
should not utter the truth which I had re- 
ceived ; so after reflecting a moment I 
said, "I can come if you desire." 

This was the introduction to my life 
work. The gentleman was the one 
whose name heads this article. When I 
went to give this address he met me at 
the train and took me to his home. It 
was a humble home. He had at that time 
a small greenhouse in the same yard with 
his residence. And in his home he had 
a small press and a little type on which 
he printed tracts, notices of meetings and 
the like. 

Several of his brothers were interest- 
ed in the lodge question, but none of 
them ever devoted so much time, strength 
and monev to it as he did. For a num- 




I. R. B. ARNOLD. 

ber of years I was in close touch with 
him and his household. It was a very 
delightful Christian home. Parents and 
children seemed humble, devoted Chris- 
tians and it was a real rest to come into 
fellowship w r ith them from the world 
which crucified Jesus Christ and hate all 
who are His. 

Mr. Arnold had rather a universal 
genius. He loved flowers as most good 
men do, and would have made a large 
producer if he had given himself to their 
culture, production and sale. He was a 
natural printer. He had the printer's 
taste and did his work not only intelli- 
gently but elegantly. This also would 
have been a successful life pursuit had 
he chosen it. He was a man of fine lit- 
erary instincts. He was not thoroughly 
trained in the schools, but was a natural 
student. If he had been guided in that 
direction he would have made a success- 
ful scholar. His predominant charac- 
teristic, however, was a love for the truth 
of God and the Kingdom 'of Jesus Christ 
set up in this world. He believed that 
the lodges of our age and land were 
deadly foes to the Lord Jesus and His 
plan for the redemption of the world. He 
therefore very early gave himself to a 
public effort to withstand and remove 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



139 



these organizations. He became a stu- 
dent of the ancient mysteries from which 
the modern lodge movement is drawn. 
He knew the mythology of the Scandi- 
navian states, of India, of Greece and of 
Rome, and far more intelligently than 
men of more pretentious knowledge ; he 
saw the relation of these old mysteries to 
modern secret societies. 

His mechanical instincts naturally led 
him to stereopticon illustration of lec- 
tures which he delivered. And after a 
time he felt that by fitting out a house- 
boat with a lecture hall he might at 
small expense follow the river courses of 
our country and disseminate truth much 
more widely than would otherwise be 
possible. He spent some years in this 
work, attracting large audiences in the 
North and in the South and warning men 
everywhere "to flee from the wrath, to 
come and lay hold on life eternal through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord." 

About four years ago he had a slight 
paralytic stroke, others followed at va- 
rious intervals and recently he fell asleep 
in the home of a daughter in the South- 
land. It was true of Mr. Arnold, as it 
is of the Lord's people, in general, that 
his life was a burden and a battle. He 
did not have what men call "an easy 
time," but he was true to his convictions 
and as we think over the years which he 
lived we are glad to have known such a 
sincere and manly Christian man." 

I trust that those who read these lines 
will be able at the end of their life work, 
be it larger or smaller, longer or shorter, 
to say as truly as was possible to him to 
say, "I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my couse, I have kept the faith." 



THE CLOSED SHOP. 

REV. J. M. COLEMAN. 

The crime which the grand jury of the 
world's opinion has charged against 
Kaiser William is that in 19 14 he tried 
to enforce the idea of the closed shop 
on the world's business. It is charged 
in the indictment that he tried to get such 
control of the trade routes of the world 
that these routes would not be free to 
the commerce of the world, but that 
henceforth these could be used only with 
the permission of Germany and this con- 
trol of trade would make Germany the 
dictator of the business affairs of all 



countries. They could work and earn a 
living according to such conditions as 
Germany saw fit to impose. Against this 
proposal of a closed shop for the world's 
business the nations arose in a mighty 
protest and the collapse of German pow- 
er marked the failure of the attempt. 
Germany's effort during four years and 
a half was answered by the lock-out and 
Germany comes back to work on such 
conditions as the world allows. 

Did that end the idea of the closed 
shop? The Russian people in 1917 ap- 
plied the closed shop to the owners of 
wealth, the land and the factory owners. 
The great feudal lords had monopolized 
the land as they have done in Mexico 
and the peasants demanded a division 
which would exclude the capitalist class. 
The workers were to take over the land 
and the factories and run them for the 
interest of the workers. They refused to 
pay the debts which the Czar's govern- 
ment had run as something for which 
they were not responsible. This closed 
shop idea in Russia is what we call Bol- 
shevism. But the Allies, especially 
France, were afraid of the closed shop 
idea in Russia, lest it would spread, and 
tried to bring Russia to terms by the fa- 
miliar method of the lock-out, the eco- 
nomic blockade, which would starve Rus- 
sia into submission. For five years, owing 
to war and blockade, no food or supplies 
of any account have reached Russia and 
where the closed shop idea has slain its 
thousands, the blockade has taken even 
a larger toll of life. Whether the lock- 
out of the Allies in the blockade will 
compel Russia to give up her closed shop 
plans may not yet be settled, but in the 
meantime the Russian idea is spreading 
in an ominous fashion. It seems to bring 
war into the families and the congrega- 
tion and the conference ; and war is war. 
whether waged between nations in Flan- 
ders or in the villages of this country, 
and the class war that is impending in 
the world, of which the closed shop is a 
symbol, is not less cruel than the other 
and earlier forms. 

In the Middle Ages there were wars of 
religion, next came the commercial wars 
between nations, next will come the war 
of classes. Now, religion has ceased to 
be a fighting issue and in the world war 
Catholic fought Catholic, Mohammedan 



140 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



fought Mohammedan, Protestant fought 
Protestant. But the idea of the closed 
shop remains, the idea that I will not ac- 
cord to my brother the privilege of choos- 
ing his way as I choose mine, that he 
must live and work if he lives and works 
at all on the condition which I lay down 
for him. That means war as it has al- 
ways meant war, and the only escape is 
through Jesus Christ. — Bloomington, In- 
diana. 




REV. P. B. FITZWATER, D. D. 
PROFESSOR, MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE. 

THE ATTITUDE OF A CHRISTIAN 

TOWARDS SECRET SOCIETIES. 

By Rev. P. B. Fitzwater, D. D. 

(The following address, delivered at the 
Annual Convention of the National Christian 
Association in the Mennonite Church, Chicago, 
June -5, 1919, was stenographically reported, 
but has not been read or corrected by the 
speaker.) 

I wish to read a few words for our 
encouragement from II Corinthians, 6th 
Chapter, beginning with the 14th verse: 

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with 
unbelievers : for what fellowship hath right- 
eousness with unrighteousness? and what com- 
munion hath light with darkness? And what 
concord hath Christ with Belial? ..Or what 
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 
And what agreement hath the temple of God 
with idols? For ye are the temple of the living 
God ; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, 
and walk in them ; and I will be their God, 
and they shall be my people. Wherefore come 
out from among them, and be ye separate, 
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean 
thing; and I will receive you, and will be a 



Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 

I will ask your attention also to the 
31st verse of the 10th chapter of I Cor- 
inthians : "Whether therefore, ye eat 
or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it all 
to the glory of God." Whatsoever ye 
do, whether it is to eat or drink, do all 
to the glory of God. I think that should 
be the aim and controlling passion of 
every believer in Christ. 

In view of the subject which I am 
asked to present, I will have to show the 
principles of the Orders, because I think 
that will determine what should be the 
attitude of a Christian believer towards 
secret societies. The plan I shall employ) 
is first of all in a brief way to present 
the best side, that I know, of all secret 
societies. Then I want to present the 
Christian Church ; and then I wish to 
present the proper attitude of a Christian 
and the arguments therefor. 

What Are Secret Societies? 

In order to be brief and at the same 
time fair, so far as I am capable of judg- 
ing, I will confine myself largely to se- 
cret societies from the standpoint of the 
oldest one, and the most influential one, 
namely, Masonry. I find on investiga- 
tion that this society, which seems to be 
the parent society, the mother of all se- 
cret societies, so far at any rate as the 
modern aspect is concerned, was found- 
ed in 1717. The reliable information as 
to just what was the moving spirit for 
its formation — I say the information, 
reliable information such as we can get — 
would seem to be this: Going back to 
the middle ages in the time when the 
workmen were employed in the construc- 
tion of the great cathedrals, the work- 
men were divided into three classes, the 
apprentice and the fellow workmen and 
the master Mason. A beginner in that 
craft would be an apprentice, and for a 
certain time he would have to fill that 
place, and be known as such. When he 
had reached a certain degree of profici- 
ency in his craft, then he would be per- 
mitted to, or would be known as a fel- 
low, and then after he had attained a 
certain degree of proficiency, he would 
enter into the standing in the brother- 
hood of workmen known as Masons. 
As time passed on and these buildings 
having been completed, and no particular 
need remaining for such kind of artisans 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYN OSURE 



141 



the organization itself, which had bound 
them together in that temporary fashion, 
was disbanded; but in time, about two 
hundred years ago and a little over, the 
matter was revived at a meeting in what 
was called the "Apple Tree Tavern" in 
London; it was in 1717 that this first 
Order was founded. 

That gives an idea of the foundation 
and origin of the oldest, and so far as 
we know, the most influential, of these 
orders. 

The Nature of Secret Societies. 

I want you to note a little farther what 
is the nature of secret societies, especially 
as expressed in Masonry. 

I notice first of all that they are quasi- 
religious. The creed of the Masons is 
belief in a Supreme Being, and in the 
Immortality of the Soul. So, I say that 
in the very nature of these organizations, 
there is that pretension of religion. But, 
while it is religious in that sense, it is 
not Christian, because Jesus Christ is 
not recognized. Jesus Christ is omitted 
from the creed in order that Jews and 
all kinds of religious folks, who reject 
Jesus Christ, may be brought together 
into its fellowship. Hence, I say, in the 
nature of the case it is quasi-religious. 
And that is the secret of its success. 
You do not need to expect any organ- 
ization to perpetuate itself and have a 
strong grip upon humanity — human life 
— without being religious, because man 
is essentially a religious being, and 
where there is not a recognition of some 
being above, there is no hope of a very 
strong and perpetual organization. So, I 
want you to keep in mind in the very 
first place, that while they are religious 
Orders — and what is true of Masonry in 
regard to this is true of all of them, so 
far as I know — not one of them so far 
as I am able to learn, recognize Jesus 
Christ, in the dignity of His person, or 
in the fellowship of His atonement; so 
that in the first place I want to form a 
conception, and an opinion, a conviction 
as to their attitude from their inception. 
It helps one to determine as to whether 
I, who recognize Jesus Christ as my 
►Savior and Lord, can take my place in 
an institution, an organization which 
leaves out, and leaves out not by forget- 
fulness, but by forethought and deter- 
mined purpose, Jesus Christ. 



The Principle of Secrecy. 

Again, I notice that in the very nature 
of these organizations they are secret. 
They are secret in their signs ; they are 
secret in their working. That is, the 
principle which underlies the organiza- 
tions is secrecy. The pass-words and 
the signs cannot be known until one has 
taken an oath or obligation to maintain 
secrecy. Now you can form your own 
opinion as to an institution which, be- 
fore telling you what it stands for, and 
its foundation principles, asks you to 
obligate yourself under penalty, to hold 
inviolate these secrets. I must know in 
advance what I pledge myself to do, that 
is the Christian principle. I do not wish 
to guarantee that I will do a thing, until 
I know what it is. Do you as intelligent 
beings — beings who recognize human 
freedom and human right and human 
liberty, as members of the American 
Commonwealth — do you wish to surren- 
der your freedom of judgment to any 
institution ? That is one of the outstand- 
ing surprises of secret societies — take 
for instance the one I am holding be- 
fore us as an example of the whole, I 
suppose 63% or more than 63% of all 
the Masons of the world are in America. 
How can it be possible that in the land 
of the free, where the right to have free- 
dom of investigation and to give one's 
own decision, constitutes the very foun- 
dation stone of our Government, how is 
it possible that there should flourish that 
institution which at the very start robs 
you of that freedom, takes from you 
that which makes you a man, I cannot 
conceive. I refuse to surrender my free- 
dom of judgment to any man or any 
institution ! So then as Christians, who 
have been bought with the blood of Jesus 
Christ, whose freedom has been pur- 
chased by the death of the Son of God 
— how can you plunge into a thing of 
that kind, surrendering your personality, 
surrendering your freedom, guaranteeing 
under a penalty to hold inviolate the 
principles concerning which you are ab- 
solutely ignorant? 

The Purpose of the Lodge. 

Again with regard to these secret or- 
ders ; they were organized and have been 
maintained for selfish aims, to promote 
and conserve the interest of its members 
in business, in politics and in society. I 



14. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



can conceive of a claim upon the hearts 
of men and women of an institution 
which has as its object the welfare and 
the salvation of others ; but a society 
which centers in human selfishness, the 
desire to conserve and preserve and to 
further its own interests, regardless of 
tiu rights and privileges of others — what 
part has a Christian in such an organiza- 
tion ? 

Secret societies, while they have posed 
as benevolent institutions, have absolute- 
ly no right to that claim. There is no 
such thing in existence as a secret 
benevolent society. They have not been 
organized to help the helpless and to 
help the needy, to provide for the poor ; 
because you must be able to pay a cer- 
tain amount before you can get in — at 
least I never yet have heard of a cripple, 
one who is dependent upon others, one 
who is unable to provide his board and 
his bed, being admitted into any of these 
organizations ; have you ? And don't 
you know that that thing which I am 
now showing, is their strongest plea? 
Their pretense to care for the poor, the 
widows and the orphans and the desti- 
tute. Now, while of course they do have 
old folks' homes and orphan's homes 
and things like that, they are side in- 
stitutions — these orphanages and homes 
— the members thereof are not mem- 
bers of these secret institutions; the Or- 
ders were not organized to maintain 
them. [Fifty years ago such side lodge 
institutions were unheard of in this 
country.] 

I shall endeavor to present the other 
institution, of which you are a member, 
which does profess to be benevolent 
and charitable and has throughout its 
history maintained it. ^11 benevolent 
institutions have been derived from the 
Church. They are not native to — have 
not sprung out of secret societies. I do 
not know what good I can say further 
concerning these institutions. So far as 
I am able to judge those are the only 
good things one could say : it is the 
fairest presentation that I know of con- 
cerning them. Let it be conceded then, 
in the light of what I have said that 
these secret societies do further the in- 
terests of those who are its members. 
A man in Chicago, or any other city, 
can gain a position and can go forward 



in business, I believe, easier as a mem- 
ber of the Masonic Order than without 
it. Is that fair? I believe one can at- 
tain the position of Mayor of Chicago 
or Alderman and hold the position 
easier if he is a member of a secret 
society than if he is not. I believe he 
can come nearer becoming Governor of 
Illinois and President of the United 
States if he is a Mason than if he is 
not. Is that true? My argument is that 
it is easier — that there is such a thing 
as furthering your own business by be- 
ing in a combine which has as its object 
the furtherance of the interests of men 
who are able to pay their way. 

The Church of Jesus Christ. 

And now 1 turn to another institu- 
tion, the Church of Jesus Christ, and I 
want you to see that institution along- 
side of all these others. It is a unique 
institution, it is unlike all earthly organ- 
izations. The Church of the Living God, 
the Church of Jesus Christ, stands out 
in a way which makes it to be differ- 
entiated from all other institutions in 
the world. All other organizations rest 
upon some particular basis or relation- 
ship or interest, such as a complimental 
relationship, or founded on a relation- 
ship of sex, birth, culture, wealth, na- 
tionality, etc. But when you come to 
the Church of Jesus Christ it is differ- 
ent. Such do not cut any figure. No- 
body is too old to become a member of 
the Church, but they do pass over the 
line when they may be admitted into 
the Lodge. I do not know what the 
age limit is, but it is in evidence that 
there is an age limit; but in the Church 
of Jesus Christ, there is no age limit. 
There is nobody too young to become 
a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. 
And the Church, I say, is unique in 
that. Nobody knows too much to be- 
come a member of the Church of Jesus 
Christ; nobody can be too well educated 
to become a member of the Church of 
Jesus Christ; culture cuts no figure. 
Nobody is too ignorant to become a 
member of the Church of Jesus Christ, 
and nobody is so low in the scale of 
culture as to be deprived of their mem- 
bership in the Church of Jesus Christ. 

Masonry does not admit women, at 
least on an equal basis with the men ; I 
believe they have provided an annex so 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



143 



that a man can take his wife along and 
leave her in the annex while he goes into 
the heart and life of the mysterious 
things concerning which she knows 
nothing, and concerning which he is 
rjledged, under an oath which is accom- 
panied by an awful penalty, not even to 
disclose to his wife. But the Church 
is an institution into which a man may 
come with his wife on an equality, en- 
tering into its fellowship and love with 
all the freedom and delight and joy that 
the God of Heaven can provide. He 
not only can take his wife along, but 
he can take his children along. I don't 
care how many of them he has, all ages 
and all conditions. What a beautiful 
sight it is to see on Sunday morning, 
and whenever there is a suitable time, 
a husband with his wife, the father and 
the mother taking their children into 
the Church. The family, that institu- 
tion which is the oldest, unless we ex- 
cept the Sabbath, that institution the 
family, I say, can be maintained at its 
best only in that institution. Now then, 
in order to enable you — to enable us, 
to determine what should be our atti- 
tude towards secret societies, it becomes 
us to see what is the relationship of 
secret societies to the home. What is 
the relationship of wives and mothers 
to the Lodge? Since the home is the 
foundation head of all life, and of 
society and the State and business and 
the Church itself — its purity, its strength, 
all are determined by what the home 
is. I say then, here is another institu- 
tion that is unique, unlike every other 
institution ; an institution into which 
God gave man and woman all the things 
entwining around Jesus Christ as the 
head, forming a real union, which is 
vital, which is abiding and which is de- 
lightful withal. 

The Origin of the Church. 

The first unique institution about 
which I am talking is the Church; and 
if you are a Christian, you are a mem- 
ber of that Church. I am not using 
"church" in the sense of denomination, 
and I am using Christian in the sense 
of being a member of that Order of 
which Jesus Christ is head, so that that 
institution is the Church I mean. 

Freemasonry and all secret societies 
which have it as mother originated in 



that tavern in London a little more than 
two hundred years ago. But as to the 
origin of this institution which we call 
the Church, where did it originate? You 
and' I estimate an institution on the 
basis of its origin. I can tell pretty 
much the quality and the virtue and the 
desirability of an institution if I know 
from whence it came. How about this 
Church; where did it originate? If I 
take the first chapter of Ephesians, I 
can see that the Church originated in 
the mind of God ; in the mind of the 
triune God. Instead of its having had 
its origin in a place, such as I have 
mentioned, this institution originated in 
the mind of God. After it' had orig- 
inated, then my Bfble tells me that that 
church so originated was formulated in 
the mind of God before the foundation 
of the world. Yes, before this planed 
was swung into space and set in motion, 
before this planet upon which we live 
had any existence the Church was 
planned and potentially was in the mind 
of God. 

Now usually we can estimate an in- 
stitution on the basis of its antiquity. 
Other things being equal, that is a 
worthy factor in determining matters. 
When you take the most ancient then 
of modern secret societies, and place it 
alongside of the Church of Jesus Christ, 
where is it? Two hundred years as 
against time immemorial. 

The Purpose of the Church. 

Then let us inquire a little farther as 
to the purpose of this institution which 
we denominate the Church. What was 
the object of God in devising this 
scheme and bringing into existence this 
institution? You will find it was thus 
designated in that book of Ephesians. 
"to the praise and glory of His grace" 
the infinite being whom we call God. 
But in the essentiality of being, His life. 
His very heart is that of beneficence. 
His nature goes out to His creatures and 
finds its chief delight in giving out of 
Himself, blessings and hallowings and 
cheerings to His creatures. That" is His 
object in the formation of the Church, 
the manifestation of His own glory — 
and the beauty about that is that God's 
glory, His love, is simply a manifesta- 
tion of Himself; and it seems to me 
that the particular purpose of God in the 



144 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



creation of man, was simply to have a 
being in His own likeness and image 
to whom He could connect Himself, to 
whom he could give of Himself. 

And so, here is an institution, the 
Church, that had its origin in the way 
mentioned and has as its object some- 
thing quite different from those insti- 
tutions which we denominate secret 
societies. I tried to point out that they 
have for their object, selfish interests, 
the promotion of their own interests, 
but God Almighty, when he planned the 
Church had as its object the giving out 
of Himself, the giving away of Him- 
self, and so in the fulness of time He, 
Himself gave away Himself, and con- 
nected Himself in the person of Jesus 
Christ with man. What a world of dif- 
ference then is found as you compare 
the institution known as the Lodge with 
the Church of Jesus Christ — considering 
the time of origin, and the personnel 
of the originators and the objectives 
which control them. 

The Nature of the Church. 

Now then let us go a little farther 
into the nature of this organization 
called the Church, and I am going to 
bring the figures from the Bible. The 
first is the figure of the human body. 
I say then, in the nature of the case, 
the Church organism — it is more than 
an organization, it is an organism. The 
human body is an organism, the Church 
is represented under that figure in the 
1 2th chapter of ist Cor. Every organ- 
ism has many members ; the one body, 
the Church is one body, but it has many 
members. Now each member of that 
organism has a particular function. The 
one member cannot function for another, 
and another cannot function for this 
one ; each member has its own function. 
If one member fails to function, that 
imposes a burden upon another, and that 
member has a double responsibility. 
This institution called the Church is one 
body, many members, great variety, each 
member functioning according to the 
laws of the body in general. Have you 
stopped to consider that a multitude of 
members will not make a body ; how 
many heads do you think it would take 
to make a body? Every body has how 
many heads ? Just one ; but the human 
body having one head has feet, hands, 



arms, legs and the various members. 
Now you notice that it would destroy 
the unity and the perfection of that body 
if you were to exchange places between 
the head and the feet. Now then a 
good head would make a poor foot, and 
the best foot that you ever saw would 
not be worth while as a head. So then 
this organism which we are speaking 
about is just simply one with many mem- 
bers, each member functioning accord- 
ing to the general laws of the life of 
the body. 

xAnd again, in the nature of this body 
called an organism, there is co-operation 
between the members. The whole life 
of the body is just simply the harmoni- 
ous adjustment of the interests of all, 
and the one can only function fully and 
properly as the other functions fully and 
pioperly in its particular sphere. So, in 
this institution, the Church, which is 
unique over every other institution, there 
is that harmony, there is that co-opera- 
tion which causes all of them to work 
together in harmony, and in vital in- 
terest. 

And I notice again, that the members 
of this body are sympathetically related. 
The sorrow of the one is the sorrow of 
the other. The joy of the one is the 
joy of the other. The suffering of the 
one is the suffering of the other. The 
institution then was formed, was bound 
together with sympathy and the spirit 
of love, and co-operation, characterizing 
its every movement and purpose. 
The Place of the Members. 

And again I note in regard to this 
organism called the Church, that each 
member in the body has its own peculiar 
place, not its own choosing or by the 
election of trie body itself, but by the 
sovereign choice of Almighty God. Did 
you ever stop to consider that, or think 
that you have your place in the body of 
Christ by the sovereign appointment of 
God Himself? If you are presenting 
yourself as an applicant for membership 
in the lodge, you would have to wait 
the meeting of the committee, I suppose, 
or the officials, after which they would 
vote upon your eligibility, and I suspect 
before receiving you they would investi- 
gate your paying capacity, and investi- 
gate the probable length of your life: 
thev would determine these qualities. If 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



145 



you were capable of making a contri- 
bution to the support of that institution, 
then you would be voted in; but in the 
body, the organism about which I am 
speaking, you have your place by the 
sovereign appointment of Almighty God ; 
and you were not placed there because 
of the contribution you can make, but 
you have been selected and made alive 
in Jesus Christ in order that you may 
have a place therein. 

Organism and Organizations. 
I note this peculiarity about the Lodge 
organizations. That the most important 
of the members are the least conspicu- 
ous. They are not the office holders. 
I say then that as I observe the work- 
ing of this secret organization that there 
are certain ones who occupy official posi- 
tions : the Worshipful Masters may at- 
tain to the dignity of Grand Masters 
and so on ; and they wear regalias 
emblematic and significant of their posi- 
tion. But in the Church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the least conspicuous mem- 
bers are the most important to the life 
of the Church itself. Unfortunately 
some of us assume that the organ — the 
tongue — is of more importance than 
some other organs of the body. You 
never saw your heart and yet you could 
not live without that organ which you 
never saw. And so the least conspicuous 
members in many instances are the most 
important to the welfare and life of the 
Church organism. I prefer organism to 
the word "organization" because the 
Church of Jesus Christ is an organism, 
but the lodges are organizations. In 
this organism around one Common 
Head, there is an out-going from the 
Head to the members, giving life to them 
and joining them one to another. 

God's Building. 

Let me carry you a little farther as 
to the nature of this organism. It is, 
in addition to an organism, a building. 
You find that figure used in the state- 
ment concerning the Church. It is a 
building. Very well. In every building 
there is a foundation. And when I look 
at the foundation stone of this building 
which we call the Church of Jesus Christ, 
the very foundation stone is the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; the very one that makes 
righteousness and justice out of that 
organism is the corner stone, founda- 



tion rock of the Church. And how can 
anyone who professes to be a Christian 
—how can he swear fidelity and al- 
legiance to that secret organization which 
robs Jesus Christ of His place and 
strikes Him out of His Word, the Bible? 
How can a man who is joined to Jesus 
Christ take an oath and enter into a 
place where Jesus Christ is not welcome? 

Masonry would not succeed as Ma- 
sonry, if Jesus Christ were placed in 
the position that He should have. Let 
them exalt Jesus Christ here in the 
Lodges to-night and see what will hap- 
pen. Ah, how can you then, professing 
to be loyal to Jesus Christ the Son of 
God, who came to take upon Himself 
our nature in order to reveal God — how 
can you unite yourself to an institution 
that rules out Jesus Christ from your 
very life? You now see the reason for 
the creed of that quasi-religious institu- 
tion, Freemasonry, which is palming it- 
self off and feigning to be holy and ap- 
pealing to the people on the ground of its 
religious nature — you see the reason why- 
it cuts out of its ritual Jesus Christ. 

I tell you religion is not a thing that 
necessarily commends an institution to 
humanity. The world is cursed with 
too much religion. We need a Savior. 
You cannot have the Christian Church 
without a Savior, and you have no right 
to be in an institution that reads out of 
it the Lord of Glory. The Church 
then is that building that has as its cor- 
nerstone, its bedrock, Jesus Christ. 
The Material in God's Building. 

What kind of material is built into 
this building which the Bible calls the 
Church ? Material dead in trespasses 
and sins? The purpose of Jesus Christ 
was to seek and save the lost, so He 
takes the material out of which this in- 
stitution is built — men and women of all 
natures, black and white, red and yel- 
low — and fuses them into the one body, 
of which Jesus Christ is the head. One 
of the most beautiful things that I ob- 
served is to see men and women of all 
races gather around Jesus Christ, loving 
each other, rejoicing in each other. Jesus 
Christ is the universal man who came 
down here and linked himself to hu- 
manity, that he might form that build- 
ing. And so in this world where there 
are wars and strife and bloodshed, whv 



146 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



not bring to the forefront that institu- 
tion, the only institution that will take 
war out of the world, and the only in- 
stitution that will take hate out of men's 
hearts and make them love each other 
irrespective of their nationality and 
creed. Why then give your money and 
your time to secret institutions that have 
a tendency to build up castes and class, 
when there is in the world an institution 
that breaks down castes and class, and 
brings together the Christians of the 
world. Here then, is this institution the 
Chuch of which you are a member. I 
am trying to present it to-night in a 
way to help you and myself, to settle 
once and forever the question as to our 
attitude towards these secret institutions 
which are demanding our lives and our 



money. 



The Architect and Tenant. 



God is the architect of this building. 
I find in the Bible that the architect of 
this building, which the Bible calls the 
Church, is none other than the Holy 
Ghost ; the Holy Spirit is the Architect. 
He took the plan of God and is executing 
it, and I say what a delightful thing it 
is to see, out of broken and useless hu- 
manity, the Holy Ghost manifesting His 
dextrous strokes and manifesting His 
skill in taking these men and women 
and building them into that building. 
You heard me read II Cor. 6th Chapter, 
that the Church is the Temple of God. 
God Himself is the Tenant. Why then 
is not the thing that is most important 
for every one of us this, that we are 
members — parts of that building — which 
is a habitation for the Living God. Why, 
T would rather be associated with the 
Tenant of that building, and have the 
honor of being a part of that building in 
which He dwells, than to wear all the 
robes and all the insignia of the Royal 
Arch Masons, and all the others together. 
The indwelling being of that building is 
God Himself, with Jesus Christ as the 
foundation; with the Holy Ghost as the 
Architect. 

The Walk. 

What is your attitude toward secret 
societies? You, who are a member of 
that Church organism ; you, who are to 
be built into that building; what is your 
attitude ? 



Let me just have a word in regard to 
the walk of these people. What is their 
walk? I find in the book of Ephesians 
that the walk is a walk united ; and we 
find that the center around which this 
union is established is, "One Lord, one 
faith and one baptism. One God, the 
Father of all," who is over us and in 
us ; a family union. Then it is the busi- 
ness of those who are members of that 
Church to walk in that unity. 

And then again — what is the walk of 
those who constitute the Church? You 
see the ideal home life, where the hus- 
band loves the wife, and where the wife 
loves the husband and renders obedience 
to the husband ; that beautiful life where 
the one life complements the other; 
beautiful equality, that community of 
life ; where the children are honoring 
and respecting, and where the entire 
family live, directed and controlled by 
that spirit; is not that a beautiful life? 
Now then, if you go to that secret society 
you have broken that tie ; you have 
broken that circle ; you have stepped out 
of that beautiful life, and have pledged 
yourself to the maintenance of those 
things which are destructive to the best 
interests of that home, and that familv 
life. 

And further, I find that the walk of 
a Christian is the walk "unspotted from 
the world." "Come out from among 
them ; be not unequally yoked together 
with unbelievers." Separate yourself. 
The walk, then of these who are mem- 
bers of that organism, the Church, is a 
walk of separateness from the world's 
walk. If you become a member of the 
Masonic society you have yoked your- 
self up with those who reject Jesus 
Christ. You have yoked yourself up 
with people who spurn the name of Jesus 
Christ. Hence God says to you: "Come 
out from among them," keep yourselves 
separate from them ; have no fellowship 
with them. That is His instruction. 

Now coming to the last part, which 
really is my subject, "The Christian's 
Attitude Regarding Secret Societies" — I 
put it in the one word, separation from 
them. Separation from them! If you 
have been deceived and are in, separate 
yourself at once. If you have not yet 
attached yourself, for God's sake refrain. 
The one word then as to the Christian's. 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



147 



relationship and attitude towards secret 
societies is separation from them. 

Conclusion. 

Now the reasons I have touched upon ; 
they are anticipated, and I need not have 
a lengthy discussion. I will present 
them one after the other as I jotted them 
down this evening. 

The first reason for separation from 
them is that the principle of secrecy is 
against the spirit of Christ. Christ Him- 
self said: "In secret have I said notn- 
ing." "In secret have I said nothing." 
Now then without Christ there is no 
Church and how can you then, profess- 
ing to be controlled by Him, the head, 
attach yourselves to an institution where 
His example is not followed. That spirit 
of secrecy — I was talking to a Mason 
the other day and urging him to tell me 
all that he possibly could in regard to 
the matter. I wanted to know what were 
the principles controlling diem, but he 
shut himself up like a clam ; I could not 
get a word except this : "The only way 
you can find out is to come in." And 
the only way I can ever find out, is, be- 
fore I do find out, to swear before God 
under an awful penalty that I will main- 
tain inviolate all knowledge of those 
things which I may learn and do not 
now know — I cannot understand how 
strong men and women can attach them- 
selves to such institutions ! 

Then in the second place there is that 
oath or obligation to secrecy which I 
ha.ve already anticipated ; it is against 
true manhood to swear to shield the 
members of that cult and to swear to 
obey all its laws ; it is a stultification of 
one's manhood. If you have given your- 
self up to these, you are no longer a 
free man because the Bible declares this 
principle, which cannot be denied : "To 
whom ye yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are." To whom 
ye obey — when you have simply surren- 
dered yourself to that which you know 
not, you have simply stultified your man- 
hood ; and the man who does that in 
one case — when can you depend upon 
him in any other case? If I have given 
myself up to the Lodge I will do just 
what the bunch wants me to do. I am 
no longer a free man. So that principle 
of secrecy is a stultification of manhood 
itself. 



And in the third place, you should 
separate yourself from the Lodge be- 
cause it is against human brotherhood. 
Now, the human race is an organism and 
there is a common life that goes out; 
there is a feeling and relationship that 
exists between members of the human 
race that does not exist between. animals ; 
and when you have attached yourself to 
an institution, which has as its center 
selfish interests and which disregards 
others who have not, you have turned 
traitor to the principle of human broth- 
erhood. Common humanity, then, would 
cause a man to separate himself from 
that institution, or that band of men, 
who have gotten together to further 
their own interests and leave the help- 
less folks go. 

And again you should separate your- 
self from these organizations and keep 
separate, because of the fact that 
whether ye eat or whether ye drink, you 
are to do all to the glory of God. When 
you take your time and money and give 
to these secret institutions which are 
outside of the one institution, you are 
prostituting your time and your talents 
and your money, and wasting them. 
Whatever you do, do it to the Glory of 
God. When you spend the night in the 
lodge when you ought to be at the pray- 
er meeting; when you give them money 
for regalia of this type and that, and 
for the building of temples, when you 
ought to give it to the preaching of the 
Gospel, and the saving of lost men, you 
are not loyal to Jesus Christ in the use 
of your powers and talents, which com- 
mon loyalty should cause you to give. 

And then again these institutions are 
not needed. They are parasites. Were 
it not for the Church of Jesus Christ, 
Masonry, Odd-Fellowship and all the 
rest, would perish. They are simply 
leeches sucking the life blood out of this 
divine organism. If that be true, that 
these institutions are not needed, then 
they may be powerful forces for evil. 
And if we would permit good Brother 
Stoddard, he would tell of instances 
where these lodges have been factors and 
forces for evil in the body politic, and 
how justice has miscarried, how that bad 
men have been lifted to position and 
good men ousted from positions, simply 
by means of this secret organization. 



148 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



So then, they are not needed in the first 
place ; and in the second place they may 
become powerful institutions for evil ; 
and as I have already shown they are 
not charitable institutions ; they cannot 
lay claim to that. I say, they simply 
take care of those who can pay. You 
can go to a life insurance company; go 
to insurance companies at any time and 
get a better proposition as a business 
asset than you can from any of these 
lodges. 

In the last place, then, I would argue 
for separation from these secret societies 
on the ground of good citzenship. It 
seems to me the best citizen has never 
bound himself with these lodge obliga- 
tions. Christians should be separated 
from these institutions ; as a Christian I 
must stand for things open. If I have 
a good thing, if I have the spirit of God 
and of Jesus Christ, I will let you know 
what it is, and invite you to participate 
in it. As Christians, then, we must stand 
for things that are open. You have 
read in the papers that the curse of the 
world at the present time is .secret 
diplomacy and what we are now demand- 
ing is openness for the world. 

In the second place, as a Christian, I 
must stand for just one brotherhood, and 
that is the brotherhood of Jesus Christ. 
And as a Christian I must stand for just 
one union, and that is the union of love 
with God through Jesus Christ, and 
union with one another as members of 
that body. A member of the one union. 
And as a Christian, I must stand for 
just one service. One service, and that 
is to spend and to be spent as a worker 
together with God in carrying the Gospel 
of salvation and ministering helpfulness 
to those who need God and who need 
love. 

So these are my reasons for insisting 
that the attitude of the Christian toward 
Secret Societies is separateness, and may 
God grant that every one of us may 
maintain that separateness. 



MASONIC CAMOUFLAGE. 

The Indiana Catholic (X, 487) quotes 
Capt. Asa C. Howard, of the U. S. army, 
as saying, in a lecture on "Masonry in 
France,'' that the Grand Orient of 
France is frankly atheistic, has aban^ 
doned the use of the Bible, and struck 



out of its by-laws every obligation of be- 
lief in God, and therefore should not be 
recognized by American Masons. 

"In my opinion," he says, "the recogni- 
tion of French Masonry will be a severe 
blow to the institution of [in?] America. 
To say that we American Masons recog- 
nize an atheistic Masonry will bring on 
us a concerted attack by every church 
in the United States. There are many 
men in the United States who have no 
church affiliation ; a great number of our 
most prominent members are of this 
class. To them Masonry is, to use the 
expression, their religion. They, too, 
will criticise us and refuse to join us. I 
sincerely hope that in the near future 
those of our Grand Lodges who have 
acted hastily will reconsider their state- 
ments and action, and consider them as 
"actions in the emergency'." 

It is hard to say whether Capt. How- 
ard is in good faith or whether his ad- 
dress is intended as camouflage, to throw 
sand into the eyes of the uninitiated and 
the "knife and fork Masons," so numer- 
ous in this country, who are ignorant 
of the real teachings and aims of the 
Craft. No one who has read Chapter 
VIII, "The God of American Freema- 
sonry," and Chapter XI, "American 
Freemasonry and the Bible," in "A Study 
in American Freemasonry," edited by 
Arthur Preuss (3rd ed., 1914; St. Louis: 
B. Herder Book Co.), need be told that 
the God of Freemasonry is not the God 
of Christian Revelation, but a deified 
pagan Humanity, and that the Bible of 
the Lodges is a Bible robbed of its Chris- 
tian meaning and placed on a level with 
he Koran, the Vedas and the Zendavesta, 
nay, beneath the Kabbala, — a book ad- 
mitted even by Bro. Pike to be a med- 
ley of absurdities mingled with what he 
calls "philosophy." — The Fortnightly Re- 
view* (Catholic), July, 1919. 



Perhaps you would not have so much 
trouble with your tongue in company, 
if you would talk more with God when 
alone. 



Making the Bible a centre-table orna- 
ment is an altogether different thing 
from making it a lamp of life. 



September, i919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



149 



An Address on Education of Vital Interest 



"Christian Education : Its Relation to Mod- 
ern World Life" was discussed in a notable 
address at the summer term graduation exer- 
cises of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 
August 7. The speaker was Rev. Robert Mc- 
Watty Russell, D.D., LL.D... of the Institute 
faculty, professor of Bible Doctrine and 
Homiletics. In the graduating class were 85 
men and women from 17 states and 6 foreign 
countries. 

In these days of increasing emphasis and 
supposed progress in the field of religious ed- 
ucation is rather startling to hear Dr. Rus- 
sell assert that "modern Christendom is con- 
fronted by appalling defects of its educational 
system, chief of which is the tendency to elim- 
inate the Christian element"; and that our 
modern educational system is imperilled by 
"an exaggerated materialism, a pretensious 
psychology and a pedantic pedagogy." 

German Infidelity. 

On these dangers he says : "The German 
system of public instruction, so long held up 
as a model for the world, consisted largely in 
'systems of science, philosophy and theology 
wrought out by minds that had thrown off the 
authority of Divine revelation,' and placed 
the supreme emphasis of thought upon the 
material. Every true scholar must rejoice in 
our modern triumphs -in the realm of natural 
science. But it is lamentable that man in 
making a closer -scrutiny of the earth should 
lose his vision of the sky; that because of 
rinding fire-flies in the meadows he should for- 
get the stars, and that through an increased 
knowledge of things physical the modern 
generation should be taught to worship at the 
shrine of matter, force and motion, ignoring 
the spiritual trinity of 'Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit.' 

"Psychology, the science of mental phenome- 
na, as dependent upon or correlated with 
physical changes, is worthy of much attention, 
but it should not exclude theology or rob 
mankind of spiritual treasures. The poet, 
Pope, was roaming in a mental fog when he 
wrote : 

"Know then thyself ; presume not God to scan, 
The proper study of mankind is man." 

With vision clarified as to our nature and 
needs, we can answer: 

Look thou on high ; thy source is not the clod, 
The proper study of mankind is God. 

Crooked-Thinking Mind Specialists. 

"A pretentious psychology would account for 
all the spiritual phenomena of sainthood, an- 
cient and modern, without recognizing the ex- 
istence of a personal, self-revealing God, or a. 
world-Saviour, historically accredited by His 
resurrection from the dead. It finds no need 
for the activity of the Holy Spirit in the 
phenomena of conversion. The new life pro- 
duced by regeneration is classified as a move- 
ment of adolescence. Christian ethics the 



world of course needs, but it is presumed that 
these may be accepted and retained without 
definitely relating them to a Divine Teacher. 
In other words, our modern psychologist pro- 
ceeds cheerfully to cut down the tree of his- 
toric Christianity, vainly imagining that its 
ethical shade will remain for world life. 

Corruptors of Youth, 

"While boldly eliminating from the Gospel 
record all that lays claim to the miraculous 
and finding no source for spiritual phenomena 
outside the movements of man's own mind, 
these teachers still desire to be viewed as 
Christian men and seek to be the guides of a 
new generation. Because of the prevalence 
of this kind of thought, young people, who 
go forth from Christian homes with Christian 
faith in their hearts, return from the colleges 
and universities talking of 'the mistakes of the 
Bible,' 'the folklore of Genesis,' 'the myth of 
Palestine/ and 'the impossible theological vag- 
aries of Paul.' A pretentious psychology 
writes 'myth' where our fathers wrote 'revela- 
tion,' and would substitute for the glorious 
light from the Sun of Righteousness the pale 
gleam from the rush-lights of human specula- 
tion. 

Irrational Folly in Child Training. 

"Much good has come from rational effort 
to secure the best lines of approach to the 
child mind and the true proportion and order 
for the presentation of truth. But much of 
modern pedagogical theory, insofar as it con- 
cerns religious education, is chimerical, un- 
scientific and absurd. For instance, it is 
claimed that it is only after a long course of 
instruction that the child should be confronted 
with the truths that involve personal relation 
to God. Religion is to be taught with a re- 
versal of the chronological order. Instead of 
starting with the story of creation and fol- 
lowing this with the story of sin and human 
need, and God's manifestation in Christ, the 
child is to learn about religion by being made 
to observe the conduct of his parents and 
Christian friends. Next shall come the biog- 
raphy of modern church leaders, then studies 
in the life of Paul and Jesus, and then the 
political and social life of Israel. 

"In all this progress the Bible is not to be 
made a text book. It is claimed that better 
illustrations for the fostering of the Christian 
life can be found in modern history than in 
Bible history, and where the Bible is used, 
care must be taken not to submerge the child- 
mind with advanced truth concerning his re- 
lation to God. Perhaps the largest truth for 
little children to be learned from the Bible 
story of the Good Shepherd is that we should 
be kind to animals. Later, after years of 
study embracing Jewish history and Compara- 
tive Religions, there will be provided a series 
of lessons on the great doctrines of Christian 
faith, 'particularly the doctrines of God, 
Prayer and Immortality.' 

The True Method. 

"Such is the scheme of certain forms of 



150 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



modern pedagogy for the education of the 
child. How far it is from the Biblical way 
and the natural way is easy to discern. The 
true Christian life is union with God and the 
development of knowledge of God through 
that union. The true physical education of 
the child does not consist in lectures in anat- 
omy and hygiene and later the providing of 
nourishing food and the placing of the child 
in the mother's arms. The reverse order is 
the process. The personal touch and the 
personal ministration comes first. Life con- 
sists of living, not knowing how to live. Gen- 
erations of men enjoyed and digested food 
before ever a book was written upon processes 
of digestion. The men who have moved the 
world spiritually were not educated by this 
new-fangled method of a pedantic pedagogy. 
Moses. Samuel and Daniel and the heroes of 
modern faith looked with child eyes into the 
face of God, and met the temptations of youth 
because of seeing the Invisible, and of being 
consciously girded by the Everlasting Arms. 
The modern theorv of religious education for 
childhood should hardly be dignified with the 
term pedantic pedagogy, it should rather be 
sMed attenuated asininity." 

'Setting forth the importance and reasonable- 
ness of the Christian element in education, 
Dr. Russell continued: 

Rational Education. 
"Any educational system is rational only as 
it includes the spiritual and puts the soul in 
contact with God. In both scientific and 
religious phrase, the measure of life is knowl- 
edge Life is high or low, broad or narrow, 
according to the nature of the environment 
with which the organism has the correspond- 
ence of knowledge. Man's life stands highest 
in the scale of earthly being because his is the 
ability for correspondence with the wider 
circles of reality. Man knows the elements 
of the earth better than the worm, the tints 
of field and sky better than the birds. He 
holds a social fellowship with the people of 
his own age and locality, and then sweeps out 
to discern the historic and geographical con- 
ditions that have characterized the lives of 
other ages and continents. By patient re- 
search he nroduces multiplied sciences until 
his environment of knowledge includes the 
chemistry of earth and air, the measured path- 
way of comets and stars, the philosophic 
dreams of men concerning the origin of na- 
ture's phenomena, and indeed every interest 
that throbs in the heart of the race universal. 
To Know God of First Importance. 
"The widest circle of truth, however, is not 
that which concerns sun and stars, or even 
race history and philosophies, but that which 
concerns God, the Infinite One whose power 
lies behind all physical forces, and whose truth 
famishes the light for all the broken beams 
that enter into human philosophies. This is 
life eternal,' said the great Teacher, 'that they 
niav know Thee, the only true God, and Him 
Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. 
The only truth, therefore, that holds within it 
the promise and potency of an endless and 
happy existence for man, is the truth that 



centers in Jesus Christ as the Reveaier of God, 
and thereby furnishes man with an inner life 
principle and an eternal environment. Chris- 
tian education, therefore, becomes a prime 
necessity in any scheme of culture which aims 
to take account of man's real nature and 
needs, and to embrace in its scope the su- 
preme facts of life. 

All Inventions Copies of God's Works. 

"Christian education emphasizes the truth 
that we live in a spiritual universe, and that 
God is behind His creation. What are our 
greatest inventions and most splendid mechan- 
ical achievements but meager copying of the 
works of God? 

"God gave us the model for the trowel and 
chisel in the beaver's tail and tooth. 

"The scissor lance of surgery we copied 
from the probe of the black fly of the Adiron- 
dacks. 

"Augers for the boring of wood we copied 
from the head of the locust-borer, and cast- 
iron linings for tunnels beneath rivers we 
learned from the ship-worm which bores by 
means of a funnel-like projection on its head, 
and enamels the sides of the tunnel in its 
progress with the exudations from its own 
body. 

"Eddystone patterned his lighthouse from a 
tree trunk. 

"Paxton, the gardener, outdid the architects 
in his roof plans for the Crystal Palace of 
London, having copied God's architecture in 
the Victoria-Regina leaf. 

"Our process of making paper from wood 
pulp is as old as the world among wasps. 

"Think of what you will along the line of 
our mechanical contrivances, whether these be 
pulleys, levers, stranded ropes, or beams and 
arches, and you have everything anticipated 
by the thought of God in the wondrous struc- 
ture of the human frame or in the devices of 
nature. 

"Inventions in all lines have been anticipated- 
Our storage batteries had a prototype in the 
electric fish ; our armor plate in the scales of 
the crocodile ; our plumbers' clutch-wrench in 
the claw of the lobster; our telegraph and 
telephone system in the nerve-lines and centers 
of the body. 

"Everything beautiful in art is copied from 
God's work in nature. Not only do our 
painters find inspiration and color-schemes in 
sunsets and landscapes, but when the weavers 
of old sought color and harmony for the 
beautiful cashmere shawls of our grandmoth- 
ers, they copied these from the wings of the 
Indian butterfly— a creature God has made. 

Common Sense in Religious Reasoning. 

"Christian education also recognizes that 
God is possessed of moral attributes, apd is 
a self-revealing God. Romanes, a scientist of 
the last century, emerged from the doubt and 
unbelief into which he had been plunged by 
his scientific studies, through the realization 
that true reasoning demands belief in the ex- 
istence of a self-revealing God. During the 
period of his skepticism he read in a maga- 
zine of science the story of the discovery of 
some new crustacean in the Japanese waters. 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



151 



The discoverer was a college friend, and later 
a missionary. Romanes wrote his former 
school friend asking how he, a man possessed 
of keen scientific instincts and mental powers, 
could still go on believing in the myth of 
Christianity. 

"The missionary replied that he was a 
Christian because he used the same kind of 
common sense in his religious reasoning that 
he did in his scientific thinking. He pointed 
out that in scientific studies he had found that 
the possession of an organ by any organism 
was the pledge that there existed something in 
the environment which corresponded to the 
character of the organ. The eye stands as 
the pledge that there is light; the ear that 
there is sound; the lungs that there is air; the 
olfactory nerves that there are odors. 

Argument That God Is Self-Revealing. 

"Following this line, it becomes evident that 
since man is possessed of conscience, demand- 
ing loyalty to God, and worshipful emotions, 
causing him to seek a throne of glory and 
power, therefore God must be a self-revealing 
God, or else man in the loftiest phases of his 
nature is an organized lie. Romanes accepted 
the logic of his friend, returned to the faith 
of his fathers, and wrote a book demolishing 
the arguments of his previously published infi- 
delity. Men are not laying aside their reason 
when they accept the facts that center in 
Christ." 

On the point that Christian education presses 
the conviction that the Bible is the product of 
Divine revelation and an infallible text book 
for the religious life, he said: 

Why the Bible Is Unpopular. 

"The Bible is unmistakably clear in its claim 
to infallibility and authority. It is perhaps this 
that makes it unpopular in world thought, 
either as law or literature, for sinful man is 
rendered restless by its strictures of judgment 
upon his mode of living and its lurid descrip- 
tion of his moral end. The Bible's estimate of 
its own infallibility and authority is the only 
reasonable estimate of the Book." 

As to the Christian use of reason in the 
physical realm, he said : 

Scientific Necessity for "New Birth." 

"It can be justly claimed that a Christian 
use of reason in the physical realm guards 
the youthful mind against the assaults of un- 
belief and prepares for the acceptance of the 
fundamental doctrines of the Gosnel. It is a 
scientific principle that life cannot be produced 
without the touch of pre-existing life, and that 
no form of matter can climb from a lower 
kingdom to a higher without the invitation 
from above. This is illustrated by the fact that 
the materials of the soil remain the mineral 
kingdom until invited by the life of the seed 
to the vegetable kingdom above. That which 
is vegetable ascends to the animal kingdom 
through the touch of animal life in mastication 
and digestion. The forces of animal life re- 
main such until the flesh of the market-place 
becomes the food of our table, and then those 
forces that produce the squeal of the pig and 
the bellow of the ox become sublimated to pro- 



duce the high notes of the prima donna or the 
basso profundo of the concert soloist. 

"Since this is so in the realm of nature, why 
should we be surprised to learn that in the 
realm of grace we must be 'born again' before 
entering the kingdom of heaven, and that 
there is a kingdom of God and goodness, into 
which the soul can come only as it is born 
from above. 

"A proper recognition of the natural law 
that like produces like, and a proper discern- 
ment of the place of heredity in human devel- 
opment, prepares for the easy acceptance of 
the Bible doctrine that a fallen Adam would 
beget children in his own image, and that a 
lost race to have redemption must become con- 
nected with a Second Adam through a faith 
that overcomes the power of heredity, and an 
imparted power which secures conformity to a 
Divine Type." 

That God of necessity reveals Himself 
through limitation he discussed as follows : 

Limitation in Revelation of God. 

"A clear discernment that in the study of 
time and space and electric energy that which 
is infinite can be apprehended only in terms 
of limitation, will secure a mental hospitality 
for the great fact of the Gospel that the In- 
finite God revealed Himself through limitation, 
and that Jesus Christ was God expressed in 
terms of humanity. 

"To illustrate, we cannot apprehend space in 
its infinitude, but we must first think of ex- 
tension between our hands and then that which 
stretches between the walls of the room or in 
wider circles until the mind sweeps out to the 
orbit of Neptune and the circle of the stars. 
All thought of infinite space is, however, in 
terms of limitation. 

"Likewise as to time, we have the measure 
first in the ticking of the clock, in the passing 
of the hour, the day, the sweep of a generation, 
and the cycle of a century, but all in terms of 
limitation. 

"Electric energy as far as we know it seems 
infinite, moving under the same laws here and 
in the Pleiades. Yet we know of this univer- 
sal energy only as by limitation we cause it to 
leap between the points of the arc light or to 
oass through the platinum wire of the electric 
bulb, or the supply wires of our trolley system. 

God Seen in Christ. 

"The student who understands these facts of 
the natural world in their parallel relations 
with the thought of the spiritual, will in rev- 
erence realize that God to manifest Himself 
must resort to the method of limitation; that 
in the human life of Jesus, lived nineteen cen- 
turies ago, there was the manifestation of the 
Divine perfection, the flashing before humanity 
of the very light and life of God; and that 
God must have forever remained an unknown 
God unless subjecting Himself to limitation, 
and in Jesus Christ shining forth indeed as the 
Light of the world. In truth, men are never 
hindered from accepting the Gospel of Christ 
because it is contrary to reason, but by failure 
to recognize that the movements of God in 
revelation meet the highest demands of reason. 



152 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



Christian Teachers Needed. 

•"There should be an insistent demand," he 
continues, "for the Christian teacher. Christian 
character in the teacher is a prime necessity. 
Teachers create atmosphere, and atmosphere 
is an essential of spiritual health. A teacher 
with an unbelieving or flippant attitude toward 
Christian truth can vitiate the atmosphere of 
a university. Leadership by such instructors 
constitutes the tragedy of education in many 
of our leading universities. 

A Wise (!) Professor of Philosophy. 

"Somewhat recently the professor of philos- 
ophy in a prominent eastern university closed 
his course of lectures with the following 
words : 'It must be apparent to you that the 
course of lectures to which you have listened 
has in some sense been destructive in that it 
has dealt with some of the beliefs that you 
have deemed important and basal and has 
shown that they are not. This, however, is 
the resultant conviction of my years of think- 
ing that we are probably in a universe gov- 
erned by spirit rather than by blind material 
force, and that we have a little more than a 
fighting chance for our belief in God. and 
immortality. But to declare that these things 
are certain, is foolish, for they are not; and 
to teach little children that these things are 
certain, is wrong, for when they grow older 
and find out different, it may affect their 
morality. Anyway, we are in this world to 
clean up as much of it as possible, and it does 
not behoove us to think much about immortal- 
ity or God.' 

"The Fact of Christ." 

"Most of the supporters of our great uni- 
versities agree with the Davidic sentiment, 
'The fool has said in his heart, There is no 
God' ; but they should go further and say that 
neither the fool, nor the near-fool, who is 
without convictions concerning God and im- 
mortality, shall display his vacuity in the class 
room of institutions supported largely by 
Christian contributions. Even a modern teach- 
er of philosophy should be sufficiently in- 
formed in history to know that Jesus Christ 
has lived and taught in this world, and he 
should have sufficient reasoning capacity to 
conclude that He who spoke with absolute 
perfection concerning all the ethical relations 
of humanity could not have been blindly mis- 
taken in all His estimates of His own nature 
and His transcendental relations to the In- 
finite. True teaching has to do with the facts 
of life, and the greatest and most important 
fact with which human thought can deal is 
'The Fact of Christ.' " 

The aims of Christian education Dr. Rus- 
sell stated, in part, as follows : 

"The return of the Bible to its place of 
imnortance in the home should be sought. 
The Christian character which we crave for 
youth secures its true foundation through the 
use of the Bible in the home. 

The Bible and Sexual Purity. 

"At a social purity convention in Pittsburgh 
years ago, a speaker earnestly advocated the 
teaching of sexology in the public schools and 



the taking of our boys at a somewhat early 
age to the museums of anatomy where they 
could see evidence of the appalling batteries 
of disease with which God sweeps the path- 
way of sensuality. 'Only thus,' he said, 'can 
we hope for sexual purity in modern life.' 

"At the close of the address a man dignified 
by age and culture arose and said that by the 
grace of God he had lived a life of purity; 
that into his youthful hands there had come 
no books on the sex problem; that he had 
never been privileged in his youth to visit a 
museum of anatomy, but that the Bible had 
been read through and through in his home 
in family worship; that he had been intro- 
duced to the problems of sex life bv its sacred 
literature ; that he had learned of God's ideal 
for the fellowship of men and women in 
domestic life; that in the hour of temptation 
his shield had been the thought of God and 
his answer that of Joseph in the hour of 
supreme test, 'How can I do this great evil 
and sin against God?' 

"Nothing less than the sanctification of the 
affections will secure, for mankind the life 
of purity, and for this sanctification there is 
no other method than that described in the 
petition of Jesus. 'Sanctify them in Thy truth, 
Thy word is truth.' 

Silly Court Decision on Bible. 

"The Bible should also have its old place . 
in our public schools. The method of reason- 
ing in the courts of various states whereby the 
Bible has been declared to be a sectarian book 
is absolutely illogical, and applied in another 
direction would include Lake Michigan in the 
present prohibition movement on the ground 
that water is a basal element in all intoxicat- 
ing beverages. Bible truth may be a part of 
all sectarian creeds, but the Bible is not sec- 
tarian. There could be a union of Protestant, 
Catholic and Jewish intelligence in preparing a 
book of selections from the Bible that would 
give to our youth its great historic trend and 
ethical principles. It seems withal unreason- 
able to punish criminals for the violation of 
laws that have not been clearly set forth and 
impressed in the system of public instruction 
that trains for citizenship. 

The Bible in Colleges and Pulpits. 

"Chairs of Bible should be established in all 
our colleges and universities. The move- 
ment is already strong for this in our church 
colleges, but university life is not complete 
without at least the elective opportunity of 
studying that Book whose truth is the foun- 
tain head of our civilization, and whose legis- 
lation is the source of the major part of out- 
laws. 

"The Bible also needs restoration to many 
of our American Protestant pulpits. Many 
ministers need reminding that their commis- 
sion is to preach the gospel and that sermons 
are to be taken from the Bible. A minister 
may with profit indulge in wide reading of 
current literature, but his sermon thought 
should center in the Word of God. The 
people of our congregations read the maga- 
zines. They are confronted with that which 
is new when the Bible is presented. The 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



153 



latest war news is found in the prophetic por- 
tions of Scripture." 



IS IT REBELLION? 

BY J. R. KAYE, PH.D., LL.D. 

The war is over and we are saying 
that we have now entered the period and 
have begun the task of reconstruction. 
While the world was overwhelmed with 
the frightfulness of war, the words of 
Christ, referring to a period of great 
distress, found wide expression — "Men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for 
looking after, those things which are 
coming on the earth." Since 1914 the 
turmoil into which the world has been 
cast has caused thoughtful men to gaze 
with fearful minds upon the sweeping 
changes that were transpiring, and to re- 
gard with grave concern the crisis to 
which we were inevitably tending. 
Chaos, Restlessness, Disorder. 

Now that the war is over and the 
peace treaty signed, have we ceased to 
fear, and have our hearts been restored 
to a normal state? The war is over, 
but not the chaos, uncertainty, restless- 
ness and the spirit of general disorder 
that has settled down upon us. Out of 
the ashes of war new spectres have arisen 
and we are far removed from a pacific 
and confident frame of mind. Men's 
hearts are still failing them for fear of 
the existing conditions. 

It may be said that we should take a 
sane and rational view of the situation; 
that such was to be expected and that it 
would be most unusual if the period 
through which the world has just passed 
did not unsettle the conditions of life for 
a time ; that it was certain to create such 
disorders and lay upon us the serious 
problem of meeting them ; that the un- 
usual becomes the usual when we consid- 
er things in the relation of cause and ef- 
fect. We are likewise reminded that the 
horrors of the French Revolution were 
followed by the Napoleonic era and for 
fifteen years Europe was held in the 
throes of war and dominated by a mighty 
despot, and in the midst of this was add- 
ed our conflict with Great Britain, thus 
extending the conflagration. But the na- 
tions righted themselves, and out of the 
ruinous effects of war came a better Eu- 
rope and a better America. 

It will be readily admitted that we 



should be prepared for such a state of 
chaos arising from such a colossal con- 
flict in which the face of things has been 
altered, the breaking up of established 
orders, the passing of old and the rear- 
ing of new institutions. If we expected 
such chaotic conditions we certainly have 
not been disappointed in our expecta- 
tions. It remains to be seen how much 
the present chaos and destructiveness 
are really essential to a true reconstruc- 
tion, or to what extent by these the lat- 
ter is being seriously menaced. 
Liberty Versus License. 

It is not surprising that in the midst 
of this international upheaval certain ten- 
dencies should take advantage of such 
a moment to assert themselves and find 
the new conditions exceedingly propitious 
to obtrude their claim and seek to make 
them constitutive of the new order. Such, 
for example, is true of Socialism that 
has been making rapid strides through- 
out the world for a considerable period. 

We are not to overlook the fact that 
the spirit of liberty that has been so em- 
phasized by this mammoth conflict of the 
past few years might become the spirit 
of license and lawlessness. The one is 
the perversion of the other and given oc- 
casion may rapidly become widespread. 
Liberty must ever face this danger. In 
various respects the principle of liberty 
lias been urged in support of a personal 
liberty that would have been the very 
antithesis of any true interpretation and 
application of the principle. Liberty is 
a well-balanced appreciation of the rights 
and relations of things, while the perver- 
sion of its essential element will degrade 
it to the most dangerous license. 
(To be continued.) 



JHetos; of j^ur WBovk 

SOUTH DAKOTA REPORT. 

(This report was received too late for the 
August number but we want our readers to 
hear from Brother Van den Hoek as often as 
possible and hence give it a place here, though 
it is late.) 

Colton, South Dakota, is a prosperous 
little town on the Great Northern Rail- 
road only twenty-two miles from the 
modern South Dakota city, Sioux Falls. 
The Dutch people of the Christian Re- 
formed Church have made a fine little 



154 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



settlement here in the last two years. 
The\' bought the Church and parsonage 
of the Baptists, whose congregation had 
died out. Lodges are often the cause 
of the closed churches. Well, in Colton 
1 lectured on the 6th of July. The eve- 
ning Sabbath service was turned over 
to me. The rather small church was 
tilled with a quiet audience. We had 
worked up the National Christian Asso- 
ciation's cause on the 4th, where we had 
a line program in the grove of Brother 
T. Van der Lugt. Already several anti- 
lodge books had been sold here and thir- 
teen Cynosures subscribed for. 

The congregation of wdiich my son-in- 
law, Rev. S. G. Brondsema is pastor, 
gave me a collection of $18.55. There is 
only one American Church in this town 
and lodge members are hurting its 
growth considerably. But both the Nor- 
wegian Lutheran Churches are doing 
well and it is their determination to keep 
the "fraternity" out of church fellow- 
ship. 

Here I found a Master Mason from 
Minneapolis, who told me, that he did 
not know anything about A. G. Mackey, 
Past General High Priest of the General 
Grand Chapter of the United States, and 
he doubted my honesty, when I told him 
that said Mackey was a High Masonic 
authority. 

Oh, the ignorance of the poor souls ! 
I told him, if he was a good Mason at 
all, he ought to know "his Mackey!" 
Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek. 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

God is blessing, and the Eastern De- 
partment moves forward. Your agent 
was forcefully reminded a few days ago 
of the uncertainty of life when the trol- 
ley car in which he w^as traveling ran into 
an auto, killing the three occupants, a 
father, grandfather and grandson. The 
father was reported by the local paper to 
be a Moose, Eagle, and proprietor of a 
park pool room. How sad that men 
should be trifling in time, with eternity 
so near ! Flying glass from the broken 
windows struck within a few feet of 
where I was seated. 

I am succeeding as usual in the Buck- 
eye state. Meetings always bring re- 
sults. Fifty Cynosure subscriptions 



have been secured during the past few 
days. Helpful meetings were held in 
Pennsylvania last month at several points 
in Lebanon County. At Ephrata I spoke 
in the Church of the Brethren and re- 
ceived a fine commendation from the 
Elder, together with the usual offerings. 
Sabbath, July 20th, I got in four ad- 
dresses, speaking to good audiences in 
Palmyra and Lebanon, Pennsylvania. 
The addresses were given in churches 
known as United Christian's, Zion's Chil- 
dren and Brethren. These are humble 
worshiping Christians who keep out of 
secret societies and receive the joys and 
benefits of those "who worship in spirit 
and truth." They heard my messages 
gladly, and spoke of profit received. At 
Richland and Harrisburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, I spoke to appreciative audiences 
in Churches of the Brethren. Elder 
Herr helped much in the Richland meet- 
ing. He arranged for me to stop with 
a good brother King. So I had a good 
place with the King of a Rich-land! 
Lodge men can find their companions 
among the "Goats" and "Ground Hogs" 
if they think best, but the writer prefers 
the "Kings" who are Christians. I was 
given the larger portion of the time at a 
prayer meeting of the Brethren in Christ 
Meeting at Elder Charleston's in Me- 
chanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The house 
was well filled, giving evidence that this 
people appreciate the mid-week prayer 
services. A brother who testified said 
that he worked in a shop where they had 
just organized a lodge of the "Pink 
Goats," but that he had no inclination 
to wear their pink badge, or go with the 
"Goats." He was headed toward the 
land of Caanan ! My amazement at the 
lodge sin and folly increases. Think of 
business men supposed to be intelligent, 
voluntarily wanting to be called "He 
Goats," "Billy Goats," etc., and yet we 
are told such names are given to the of- 
ficials of this "Pink Goat Lodge." If the 
Devil is not in a thing like this, where 
can he be found? 

I was glad to run out to the Bladens- 
burg, Virginia, Road Free Methodist 
Camp Meeting for two days, when at my 
Washington, D. C.., home. The meeting- 
had just begun. The preaching was^ in 
the Spirit. Spiritual "fires" were being 
lighted, and expectations were great. 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



155 



The lodge devil would naturally feel out 
of place in such a camp. 

I visited friends at Shiremanstown, 
Chambersburg, Waynesboro, etc., while 
in Pennsylvania and was sorry to have 
to decline invitations to speak at ap- 
proaching Camp Meetings. The Ohio 
call for my work this month appeared to 
be loudest. 

My first stop in coming to Ohio was 
at Youngstown. I arrived in time to at- 
tend the "outing" for the children and 
friends of the Mennonite Home. It was 
a pleasure indeed to receive entertain- 
ment in this Home and come in touch 
with so many young lives filled with 
promise for the future. At Columbiana. 
Ohio, also I found an outing of good 
friends at the Lutheran Church. Pastor 
Fischer is a faithful advocate of anti- 
secrecy doctrines. He has recently stood 
firmly for the anti-lodge truth amid 
many trials. If all the Pastors who know 
the truth would be as faithful the rec- 
ord would be different. 

Several days were given to our work 
in and around Canton, Ohio. An eve- 
ning was much enjoyed attending the 
meeting being held by our good friend 
Elder A. H. Miller, near Louisville, 
Ohio. Sabbath services in the Canton 
Mennonite Mission and Free Methodist 
Church cheered and helped quite a few. 
The sad taking off of our good helpers 
Preacher Brenneman and wife, who died 
of influenza, seemed a very strange prov- 
idence. Brother Troyer and wife, old 
friends from West Liberty, Ohio, were 
found in charge of the work so well be- 
gun by them. Another Christian work- 
er in charge of a Canton Mission had 
been recently called to his eternal re- 
ward. Elder D. H. Rohrer was a reader 
of the Cynosure and bore faithful testi- 
mony against the sin it condemns. I 
found Akron, Ohio, wonderfully alive 
as to material things. Most of the peo- 
ple seemed too much rushed to read, or 
consider, excepting as they could get 
money for doing it. Our helpers re- 
sponded well. I am writing at the home 
of the pastor of Wesleyan Methodist 
Church, Barberton, Ohio. Last evening 
I gave my "chart talk" to those who 
came to the church to attend the usual 
Thursday evening prayer meeting. A 
kindly return in collection and Cynosure 



subscriptions was given in aid of our 
work. 

In conclusion may I say I get tried and 
vexed and worked down by conditions 
and things, but my hope is in God and I 
rejoice in the faith that when Jesus 
comes all will be well. Truth is sure to 
triumph. "Error will die amid its wor 
snipers." 



"LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER." 

Dear Cynosure: 

I am now in the old sunny South a' 
Vian, Oklahoma. I love the South and 
feel more at home when there. I left 
Chicago the 21st and reached Omaha the 
following day. The ten days' tent meet- 
ing which we have held in Omaha stirred 
the Devil. These meetings were like the 
old-fashioned Methodist and Baptist 
Camp Meetings, which were so full of 
spiritual power that men cried out "What 
shall we do to be saved?" In those days 
the black man had but one God — he 
knew nothing of the white man's idol 
lodge worship. Since the Negro has 
come into the knowledge of this idol wor- 
ship he has lost his power with God and 
the god which he serves today is the god 
that is mobbing and killing him. 

Elder C. H. Mason preached for us 
eight nights. He hit the lodges a hard 
blow and all other sins as well. Elder 
Mason's text one evening was from Isa. 
18:1-7, "Woe to the land shadowing 
with wings, which is beyond the rivers 
of Ethiopia." He told them of the proph- 
ecy in Isaiah 20 :y6 and how this proph- 
ecy has already been fulfilled. Now the 
Lord is shadowing with wings (Isa. 
18:1). He told the black man to look 
up into the sky and see the humming 
planes of death with their wings shadow- 
ing the earth and asked them to recall 
how some had dropped deadly bombs 
upon women and children. He said this 
is the time for Ethiopia to "stretch out 
her hands unto God" (Ps. 68:31) and he 
also said that some watchmen (preach- 
ers) are spiritually blind (Isa. 56:1-12). 

The preacher who had the church car- 
nival last year had one this year also, but 
there were many of his church members 
who came to our meetings to hear the 
Word of God. One of the Baal worship- 
ers in Omaha said of us, "They ought to 
run them out of town," and I said to 



156 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



them, "Come to our tent meetings and 
bring your Bible with you and if we are 
not preaching and teaching God's Word 
then you can make us leave this city," 
but not one of them came, and so we 
cried aloud and did not spare any kind 
of sin. At the church carnival there 
were women dressed as Indians and 
many of them acting as clowns, so you 
see some churches in Omaha must have 
a show to get members for their congre- 
gation. One particular church has a 
restaurant in the house of God and there 
buying and selling is done throughout 
the day. On Sundays they have a soda 
fountain in the church, the fountain be- 
ing hidden behind a drawn curtain. All 
one has to do if they wish a cold drink 
or a soda while the minister is preaching 
the ii o'clock sermon is to step behind 
the curtain and there is a man ready to 
serve you. In i Corinthians 1 1 :22 Paul 
says to the CorintlTian Church : "What ! 
have ye not houses to eat and to drink 
in? or despise ye the Church of God?" 
In John 2:16 we read, "Ye have made 
my father's house a house of merchan- 
dise." That is just what my people have 
done in Omaha. 

I lectured and preached three nights 
at the tent meetings. I showed my peo- 
ple that when a man's ways please the 
Lord He will give him peace within. We 
need peace in America. Why not quit 
sinning and get down before God and 
pray for our President and other leading 
men of all nations that they and we may 
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all god- 
liness and honesty? (1 Tim. 2:1-8). It 
takes holy men and women to pray for 
this peace upon our country. No man 
can lift up holy hands who lives in sin, 
"for the eyes of the Lord are over the 
righteous, and his ears are open unto 
their prayers, but the face of the Lord is 
against them that do evil." ( 1 Peter 
3 :i2). From the President down to the 
city policemen all are trying to keep 
peace and the preacher says "fight, you 
can't keep from sinning." Where is the 
minister who is preaching the Gospel of 
peace? (Romans 10:15). If we ever 
needed a preacher of that kind it is now, 
for both the white and the black man 
have gone to heathenism. Preacher, you 
ought to be like Jonah — rise up out of 
the hull of that old ship and tell your 



people you are the cause of all this blood- 
shed. If the preachers don't wake up 
in Christian America her sins will reach 
heaven and our beautiful country will be 
destroyed. (Rev. 18:5.) 

A woman said to me recently, "Sis- 
ter Roberson, when you were in Kansas 
City telling the secrets of Freemasonry, 
there was a 32nd degree Mason in the 
audience one evening who told our pas- 
tor that he did not see why the Masons 
do not kill you. Our pastor asked him, 
Ts she telling the truth and the secrets 
of Masonry?' and he said, 'Yes, she 
could not tell it any better if she had 
been made a Mason in the lodge hall'." 
This woman then told me that this man 
had died shortly afterwards and I said, 
"Well, it is a good thing he died a nat- 
ural death, for if the Masons had found 
out that he had exposed the secret of 
Masonry they would have killed him. 
That is their law, to kill every one that 
tells their secrets." 

While in Omaha we distributed tracts 
so that every one could read the truth for 
himself. Yours for Jesus, 

Lizzie W. Roberson. 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT. 

REV. F. J. DAVIDSON. 

Thank God we are yet among the liv- 
ing and rejoicing to give God glory. 
Since my last letter I have preached at 
the Central, Israel, Saint Marks and 
Fourth Baptist Churches of New Or- 
leans. Also at the St. John Baptist 
Church, Dorcyville ; Point Pleasant Bap- 
tist and Pilgrim Baptist Churches of 
Bayou Goula; Plymouth Rock Baptist 
and St. Peter Baptist Churches of Pla- 
quemine, Louisiana. Two were saved 
from sin at the St. Peter Baptist Church 
and a number requested prayer. I con- 
ducted a series of Bible Institutes at the 
St. Peter Church. 

We are working on the house of wor- 
ship for the Central Baptist Church. Our 
aim is to celebrate the first anniversary 
of the church in our own new building 
the 31st of August. We ask for your 
earnest prayers. 

I am glad you had a great and glor- 
ious annual meeting. Thousands are 
praying that the N. C. A. work may have 
great success and that the Christian 
Cynosure may have a long life. I nc- 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



157 



tice from the daily papers that race preju- 
dice and hatred toward the Negro are as 
dominant in Chicago and Washington, 
D. C.j as they were in the hot bed of 
Southern secessionists way back in 1866. 
There are many tough, indolent and 
boisterous young Negroes and whites, 
too, who are ever ready to touch a match 
of strife and contention wherever there 
is the smallest of race contentions. It 
seems as though the conflagration is 
growing wider each day. As long as sec- 
ret societies with their oaths and Satanic 
ties are permitted to multiply and thrive 
on ignorance and superstition, just so 
long will conditions grow worse. Until 
every race shall recognize that God made 
of one blood all men and shall grant 
equal right of life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness, so long will lynching, flay- 
ing alive, burning human beings at the 
stake and other barbarities increase ; and 
as long as these lynchers and blood-thirsty 
murderers are permitted to go unpun- 
ished by sympathetic judges, juries, gov- 
ernors and other sworn officials, just so 
long will race hatred be intensified and 
the chasm between the races grow wider. 
Wicked men and transgressors of every 
race ought to be punished to the fullest 
extent of law. Newspapers should be 
just and not magnify a mole hill into a 
mountain of crime and so intensify 
hatred against an already oppressed and 
down trodden race. The church and the 
minister should separate themselves from 
all kinds of sin and oat bound societies 
and preach a pure and unadulterated 
Gospel as the only remedy for sin. 

God bless the N. C. A. and all of its 
workers. 



wake of the liquor traffic, which now 
seems doomed in this country at least, 
and much sooner than even the most op- 
timistic had hoped for a decade past." 



FROM OUR MAIL. 

A Baptist pastor in New Hampshire 
wiote to one of our subscribers who had 
sent him the Cynosure: "Thank you 
very much for the Cynosure. It con- 
tains information that I have long want- 
ed." 

Why do you not help your pastor and 
officers in this way? 



Mr. F. L. McClelland of Tc^eka, Kan- 
sas, when sending in a contribution, 
writes : "The Lord still reigns and in 
His own time and way the iniquitous 
heathen lodge worship will follow in the 



Rev. Malt Thompson of Brilliant, Ala- 
bama, when sending in an order for books 
and tracts, writes : "Am ordering these 
to find out just what I think best to use 
in breaking down the stronghold of Sa- 
tan in this part of the country. I hope 
to favor you with larger orders later." 

S3ome time ago we received an inter- 
esting letter from Charles A. Kellogg of 
Eldon, Missouri, in which he wrote: 
"Our town wants a shoe factory and a 
large concern in St. Louis offered to 
erect one here, but it takes co-operation 
of the business men and the laboring 
men. At a mass meeting the Unions had 
representatives present demanding that 
the company bind themselves to a union 
scale of wages and to other restrictions 
which they would not be likely to do. 
Many of the open shop and non-union 
citizens have told me that they would 
not give a dollar under such conditions. 
If we have not laws enough on the Mis- 
souri statute books to regulate labor, and 
federal laws, too, it is time we had some. 

"Our new M. E. pastor seems like a 
spiritual man. I attended the prayer 
meeting recently and gave him a copy of 
the Cynosure. A superannuated M. E. 
preacher died lately and was buried with 
Masonic and T. O. O. F. honors. This 
is a union labor town and has secret so- 
cieties galore — in all, with the railroad 
orders, there are about thirteen or four- 
teen in a town of less than 2,500. 

"I am trusting in Him who will help 
his people when they witness against evil 
institutions and popular sins, and I hope 
God will open the eyes of more to see 
why our young people are going down in 
sin. Pray for me, that I may be able to 
present not only the law of condemna- 
tion but the gospel of Christ's glorious 
law of the Spirit of life, a positive vic- 
torious dynamic that makes the Devil 
hunt his hole and is emancipating hun- 
dreds and thousands of souls who look 
to God for deliverance and are not dis- 
appointed. What a strong refuge we 
have ! It seems that the stronger Satan 
opposes me in the battle the harder I lean 



158 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



September, 1919. 



on the grace of God. With prayers for 
the success of the N. C. A. in the battle 
for truth, I am vour brother in Holi- 



Mr. Charles C. Nash writes: "Since 
I have taken the Cynosure I am having 
added interest in the opposition to dark- 
ness." The thing that shows that our 
brother is really sanctified by the truth is 
that he doesn't stop with simply being 
interested but is giving out the light to 
others in his neighborhood. 



Topeka, Kansas. June 17, 1919. 

"We are always glad to get the Cyno- 
sure. It is a fact that most of our preach- 
ers here frequent the lodge and the 
church seems to be given over to it. 

"We pray that God's blessing may rest 
upon your work. It is an uphill work, 
but God is with you. He that is for us 
is for more than those that be against 
us. Yours in the work. 
(Signed) Robert Patterson and wife. 



The following encouraging words, to- 
gether with a contribution, came from 
Rev. Henry J. Mulder of Lafayette, In- 
diana : "Rather unexpectedly I received 
a little extra money a few days ago. I 
argue that the Lord's cause should have 
a part of it. * * * I appreciate very 
much the great work you are doing to 
counteract the awful evil of the lodge. 
It is largely due to the splendid informa- 
tion you give on the lodge question in 
your Cynosure and otherwise that we, 
until now, have been able to keep the 
lodge members out of our Christian Re- 
formed Churches. May God ever give 
you courage to let the light of God's 
Word fall upon these institutions of the 
Devil so that men may know their works. 
Be steadfast, immovable. Your labor is 
not in vain in the Lord." 



A friend in Ohio writes, when renew- 
ing his Cynosure subscription and that 
of his pastor: "He [the pastor] has be- 
come thoroughly convinced of the dan- 
gers of seeretism and it is mostly through 
reading for the past six months of the 
Cynosure and Dr. Blanchard's book, 
'Modern Secret Societies' which I 
loaned him. And thus the good work 
still goes on. Praise God." 



TWO INSURANCE FRATERNITIES. 

The Fraternal Reserve Association is 
a secret insurance society belonging to 
the same class as the Modern Woodmen 
of America, of which there are more 
than a hundred in our own country. They 
are all practically worldly associations of 
men for mutual benefit and if there was 
no obligation to secrecy and no religious 
ritual or burial ceremonies they would be 
practically unobjectionable, though many 
have not been based on a high enough 
rate to insure against failure. The head- 
quarters of the Fraternal Reserve Asso- 
ciation, is Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and any 
one desirous of information may write 
to the Supreme Secretary, Fraternal Re- 
serve Association, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 
and ask for their Constitution and copies 
of any of the literature which they send 
out in order to give information. The 
Fraternal Reserve Association began 
business in 1902. They changed their 
rates in 1912, but whether oftener or not 
we do not know. They had on January 
ist, 19 1 8, a few over 12,000 members and 
192 subordinate lodges. Their total as- 
sets January 1st, 1918, were said to be 
$500,348.38; total liabilities at the same 
date, $19,698.44. Both men and women 
are admitted. 

We do not have any ritual of either the 
Fraternal Reserve Association or of The 
Beavers National Mutual Benefit. There 
is not demand enough to pay to print 
more than one or two rituals of the in- 
surance orders, for as we said above 
they are practically all alike in principle, 
aim and management, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America is a fair example 
of all. 

THE BEAVER FRATERNITY. 

The Beavers National Mutual Benefit 
is also a Wisconsin insurance lodge with 
headquarters in the Gay building, Madi- 
son, Wisconsin. It is younger than the 
above order, having commenced business 
in 1916. Its total membership January 
1st, 19 1 8, was 1,210 and the number of 
subordinate lodges 105. Total assets, 
$17,314.37. Total liabilities, $3,987.88. 

The Beavers Reserve Fund Fraternity 
has the same officers and the same office 
as the Beavers National Mutual Benefit. 
It began in the same year that the Fra- 
ternal Reserve Association did, namely, 
1902, and its benefit membership in Jan- 



September, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



159 



uary, 1918, was 21,575, with 398 subor- 
dinate lodges; total assets, $1,178,151.85; 
total liabilities, $34,568.77. We do not 
understand the exact relation between 
these two societies. 



DOES IT PAY? 

REV. S. C. KIMBALL. 

It has pleased the Lord to enable me 
to preach His Gospel for nearly fifty- 
five years and I am still "on my way re- 
joicing." It is my desire to aid my 
young brethren who are often strongly 
tempted to join secret lodges and espe- 
cially Freemasonry, with the hope of 
great temporal support. The young 
minister is sure of the help of the church, 
and if he can gain the assistance of the 
world, what hinders that he should be 
strong indeed? Our Lord, to be sure, 
declined the Devil's offer of help and 
that should settle the question. When 
the anti-slavery reform agitated the 
country, Sumner, Love joy and Harriet 
Beecher Stowe showed clearly the un- 
christian and immoral nature of human 
slavery, and Hinton Helper of North 
Carolina published a book proving by 
statistics that human slavery was not 
only an injustice to the slave but a finan- 
cial damage to the master. This book 
had a powerful influence in the over- 
throw of slavery. 

President Jonathan Blanchard, Presi- 
dent Charles G. Finney and Dr. Nathan- 
iel Colver have demonstrated the un- 
christian and immoral character of Free- 
masonry, and yet young ministers of the 
Gospel are decoyed into the lodge by the 
elusive hope that the mystic tie will be 
a great help to them. Too late they find, 
like poor Esau, that they have sold their 
birthright for a mess of pottage. The 
lodge oath proves a fish-hook in their 
flesh. A weak conscience, shame and the 
fear of persecution render withdrawal 
well nigh impossible. 

A few plain facts will show that lodg- 
ism is not a help to a minister. It defiles 
his conscience. It cannot be a help to a 
minister to defile his conscience. The 
proof that taking the Masonic oaths does 
defile the conscience is overwhelming. 
One of the most devoted Christian men 
I ever knew confirmed President Fin- 
ney's book and said, "When I took the 
Masonic oath the Holy Spirit left my 



heart." He left the lodge. Rev. Joseph 
Brown said, "The Holy Spirit command- 
ed me to leave the lodge." A devoted 
Methodist minister with whom I was 
laboring in an evangelistic meeting felt 
led to explain to me the wickedness of 
Masonry. I said, "I think I know more 
than you do about Freemasonry, but one 
thing I would like to have you tell me. 
How could a man of your intelligence 
be at the same time an honest Christian 
and an adhering Freemason ?" He re- 
plied, "No man can be. The first mo- 
ment I was honest before the Lord He 
said to me, 'Come out of your secret 
lodges'." He came out and witnessed a 
good confession. Any Christian man who 
joins the Masonic lodge is houghed 
like the Canaanites' horses. No more as 
he preaches the Gospel will his counte- 
nance shine like Stephen's. Do lodge 
oaths help a minister to win souls to 
Christ? Who ever heard of a success- 
ful evangelist who was an adhering Free- 
mason? Finney, Nelson and Colver re- 
nounced their lodge oaths as they did 
their other sins. Do lodge oaths increase 
a minister's true friends ? Can such hor- 
rid wickedness make the communion of 
saints more precious and augment the 
fellowship of Christian men? How many 
successful and honored ministers after 
joining the lodge have backslidden, left 
the ministry and "gone into business"? 
Is the lodge a financial help to a minis- 
ter? W^ho is complaining of his finan- 
cial straits and telling why a great sal- 
ary he could get in a worldly pursuit 
but the minister who is tagging after the 
secret lodges ? Who in old age is grum- 
bling of his hard lot but the blind preach- 
er who has, like the Samaritans of old, 
sought to serve Jehovah and Baal-Peor 
at the same time? When a lodge pastor 
returns to his former field of labor, his 
fellowship seems to be more with his 
lodge than with his church. 

The true minister who has followed 
the Lord wholly comes to old age as a 
shock of corn ripe in its season and can 
say with Joshua, not one good thing 
which the Lord hath promised us lias 
failed.— Newmarket, New Hampshire. 



Do not keep the alabaster boxes of 
your love and tenderness sealed up until 
your friends are dead. 



CHRISTIAN WORKERS' TRACTS 



MASONIC OBLIGATIONS. 

Blue Lodge Oaths (Illinois Worfc) ; Masonic 
Penalties ; Are Masonic Penalties Ever Enforced ? 
Masonic Arrogance ; Masonic Despotism ; Grand 
Lodge Powers ; Disloyalty to Country ; Our Re- 
iponsibility as Christians; What Can Be Done? 
16 pages ; postpaid, 2 cents a copy* A package 
of 25 for 25 cents. 

THE OPEN CONFESSION 

By Rev. Dr. James M. Gray, Dean of The 
Moody Bible Institute. An address on the rela- 
tion of the Christian, and especially the Chris- 
tian minister, to the secret oath-bound lodge. 
16 pages; postpaid 2 cents a copy. A package 
of 25 for 25 cents. 

MY REASONS 

For Not Joining the Masonic Fraternity, by 
Rev. R. A. Torrey, D. D., Dean of the Bible 
Institute of Los Angeles. 4 pages; postpaid, 3 
copies for 2 cents. A package of 75 for 25 cents. 

LODGE BUEIAL SERVICES. 

Should a Christian Participate in Them? 4 
pages ; postpaid, 3 copies for 2 cents. A 
package of 75 for 25 cents. 

THE "GOOD MAN " ARGUMENT. 

God's Word or the Other Man's Conscience — 
Which Should We Follow ? 4 pages ; postpaid, 3 
copies for 2 cents. A package of 75 for 25 cents. 

LODGE RELIGION. 

The Fundamental Doctrine, the "Universal 
Fatherhood of God," Discussed and Refuted. 4 
oagss ; postpaid, 3 copies for 2c. A package 
Of 75 for 25 cents. 

EXPERIENCE OF STEPHEN MERRITT, 
THE EVANGELIST 

A 138-degree Mason. 7 pages ; postpaid, 2 
cents a copy. A package of 25 for 25 cents. 

CATECHISM OF ODDFELLOWSHIP. 

What is Oddfellowship? Ought Christians to 
Perform Acts of Beneficence and Charity as Odd- 
fellows? Rebekah Lodge. By Rev. H. H. Hin- 
man. 8 pages ; postpaid, 2 cents a copy; a pack- 
age of 25 for 25 cents. 

ARE INSURANCE LODGES CHRISTIAN? 

The Modern Woodmen of America an illuitra 
tion. 4 pages ; postpaid, 3 copies for 2o. A 
package of 75 for 25 cents. 

BAPTIST TESTIMONIES. 

From Rev. P. S. Henson, D. D., Rev. A. 1, 
Gordon, D. D., Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D. B., and 
others. 8 pages ; postpaid, 2 cents a copy. A 
package of 25 for 25 cents. 

PATRIOT AND THE LODGE. 

By Pres. C. A. Blanchard. From a patriotic 
address delivered at Waterloo, Iowa, July 4, 
1912. 16 pages; postpaid, 2 cents a copy; a 
package of 25 for 25 cents. 

COLLEGE FRATERNITIES. 

Consisting of testimonies of prominent edu- 
cators and writers on the fraternity question. 
8 pages; postpaid, 2 cents a copy; a package of 
25 for 25 cents. 

?OR WOMEN WHO THINK 

A paper on Women's Lodges, including college socie- 
ties, female Masonry, female Oddfellowship and the minor 
female orders, and snowing the spiritual and moral menace 
of these orders; 8 pages; postpaid, 2 cents a copy. A 
package of 25 for 25 cents. 

WHY I LEFT THE REBEKAH LODGE. 

By Mrs. Elizabeth M. Bull. 6 pages; post- 
paid, 2 cents a copy. A package of 25 for H 

cents. 



PERSONAL WORK: HOW TO SAVE CHR«* 
TIANS FROM LODGES. 

By Charles A. Blanchard, D. D., President 
of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. Post- 
paid, 2 cents a copy. 

CHURCH AND LODGE. 

An Ad<Sre*s Delivered at Mr. Moody's "Ooa- 
terertce for Christian Workers," at Northfleld, 
Haas., by President Charles A. Blanchard, D. D, 
16 pages; postpaid, 2 cents a copy. A paofe- 
&g« of 96 for 25 cents. 

ODDFELLOWSHIP A RELIGIOUS INSTL 

TUTION 
And Rival of the Christian Church. 8 pages; 
postpaid, 2 cents ft. copy; a package of 86 for 
25 cents. 

WHY I LEFT THE MASONS. 

By Col. George R. Clarke. A Thirty-two De- 
gree Mason, an officer of the Civil War, founder 
of "Pacific Garden Mission," Chicago, and a Chris- 
tian Worker of national reputation. 11 pages; 
postpaid, 2 cents a copy. A package of 26 
for 25 cents. 

GRACIOUSLY DELIVERED 

From Seven Secret Societies. By Rev. B. G. 
Wellesley- Wesley. 8 pages ; postpaid, 2 cents a 
copy. A package of 25 for 25 cents. 

ETHICS OF MARRIAGE AND HOME LIFE. 

Secret Societies in Relation to the Home. 
By Rev. A. C. Dixon, D. D., pastor of Chicago 
Avenue (Moody) Church, Chicago. 3 pages; post- 
paid, 3 copies for 2 cents. A package of 75 for 
25 cents. 

TWO NIGHTS IN A LODGE ROOM. 

Rev. M. L. Haney, a minister and evangelist 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a seced- 
ing Mason, tells his experience and states his 
objections to the Lodge. A Christian Lodge Im- 
possible. Is the Lodge a Help or a Hindrance 
to Salvation ? 8 pages ; postpaid,. 2 cents a copy. 
A package of 25 for 25 cents. 

WHY DO MEN REMAIN ODDFELLOWS* 

By Rev. J. Blanchard. 4 pages ; postpaid, 3 
copies for 2 cents; a package of 75 for 95 cents. 

KNIGHT TEMPLARISM ILLUSTRATED. 

A full illustrated ritual of the six degrees 
of the Council and Commandery, comprising the 
degrees of Royal Master, Select Master, Super- 
excellent Master, Knight of the Red Cross, Knight 
Templar and Knight of Malta. A book of 341 
pages in cloth, $1.50; paper, $1.00. 

OATHS AND PENALTIES OF FREE- 
MASONRY 

As proved in court in the New Berlin trial. 
Also the letter of Hon. Richard Rush, to the 
Anti-Masonic Committee of York Co., Pa., 
May 4th, 1831. The New Berlin Trials began 
in the attempt of Freemasons to prevent pub- 
lic initiations by seceding Masons. These 
trials were held at New Berlin, Chenango Co., 
N. Y., April 13 and 14, 1831. General Augus- 
tus C. Welsh, Sheriff of the County, and oth- 
er adhering Freemasons swore to the truth- 
ful revelation of the Oaths and Penalties. 
Single Copy, 10 cents. 



A package containing 20 or more of tbe above trada 
will be sent, postpaid, for 25 centa. 

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
850 W. Madison St CHICAGO, ILL. 




VOL. LII. 



CHICAGO, OCTOBER, 1919. 



No. 6. 




$ 



"There is no unbelief.- 
Whoever plants a seed beneath the sod 
And waits to see it push away the clod, 
He trusts in God. 

" Whoever says when clouds are in the sky 
Re patient, heart, light breaking by and by. 
Trusts the Most High. 

"Whoever sees 'neath winter's field of snow 
The silent harvest of the future grow 
God's power must know. 

"The heart that looks when eyelids close 
And dares to live when life has only woes, 
God's comfort knows.''' 




OFFICIAL ORGAN* NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJJOCIATION 
10 CENTJ' A COPY EJTABLIJHED I8*>8 ».00 A YEAR 



P^ll^rr 



VOL. LII. 



CHICAGO 



No. 6. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu* 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
lit the Post Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
Vtaraa 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



Poem Cover 

The Eagles' New Ritual 163 

Sheiks and Daughters 163 

600,000 American Legion 163 

^Merger of Catholic Knights & Ladies 

of America 163 

Recognizing French Masonry . 163 

Eagles Have Burial Ritual 163 

Warning The American Legion 164 

The Mystic Toilers 164 

Teachers Close 25 Schools 164 

Workmen Supreme Lodge Brings Suit... 164 

Special Suggestion by O. N. Barnes 164 

*Brotherhood of Railway Clerks 165 

*Bishop Wood on the Lodge 165 

Mormon History from "History of Ma- 
sonry in Illinois" 166 

The Lutherans 167 

In Memoriam— Rev. F. Stuart. 168 

Rebels to the Commonwealth 169 

Tie Up Boston 169 

Government by Minorities? No. — The 

Tribune 169 

*President Wilson 170 

*President Gompers 170 

^Message of Massachusetts Governor.... 170 
The Issue in the Boston Stnke-^-The 

Daily News 170 

Semi-Treason — Chicago Evening Post... 171 

Total Membership A. F. of L 171 

The Spirit of Rebellion, by J. R. Kaye, 

LL.D 172 

A Patriotic Labor Union 173 



President Wilson Hits Strikes — Chicago 

Daily News 173 

The Right to Strike— Bill in- Congress. . 173 

Employer's Time ' 174 

High Fraternalism 174 

The Church Behind the Reform, Rev. A. 

B. Bowman 174 

The Speckled Chickens 180 

Testimonies of Seceders 181 

Standard Masonic Authority 182 

The American Legion . 182 

News of Our Work: 

Eastern Secretary's Report, by Rev. W. 

B. Stoddard 184 

A Profitable Experience, by Paul Cole- 
man 185 

My Testimony, by Mrs. Ella Crooks 186 

Southern Agent's Report, Rev. F. J. 

Davidson 186 

Work in Minnesota, by Rev. J. B. Van 

den Hoek 187 

"Lizzie Woods' Letter," by Mrs. L. W. 

Roberson ., 187 

Some Reasons Why I Am Opposed to 

Secret Societies, by A. M. Overholt. 189 
The Primitive Baptists, a Pastor's 

Letter 190 

Cynosure Commended by W. M. Confer- 
ence 190 

Testimonies of Theologians and Philoso- 
phers 191 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 
President, Rev. John F. Heemstra; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 

LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, 31 18 Fourteenth 
St.. N. W., Washington, D. C. 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 
South Dakota. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 
New Orleans, Ls. 

Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 
St., Argenta, Ark. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must he 
saved. 

— Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have I 
said nothing. 
— John 18:20 



THE EAGLES NEW RITUAL. 

The Grand Aerie instructed Past 
Grand Worthy President to revise the 
Ritual, incorporating all changes that, 
by amendment or additions, have been 
legalized by the Grand Aerie since the 
Ritual was adopted and promulgated ten 
years ago. This committee was also 
authorized to make certain changes that 
will add to the effectiveness of conduct- 
ing the Aerie's business and of inducting 
new members into the Order. 



At the annual meeting of the Eagles 
recently at New Haven, Conn., Grand 
Worthy Chaplain John F. O'Toole of 
Pittsburgh, Pa., opened each session with 
an impressive prayer. 

The newly elected 1919-1920 Grand 
Worthy Chaplain is Wm. G. Doherty of 
the Eagles of New Haven, Conn. 



SHEIKS AND DAUGHTERS. 

Beginning July 1, 1919, all members 
in the jurisdiction of the Supreme Lodge 
of Ancient Order of United Workmen 
are given an opportunity to qualify for 
membership in the Ancient Tribe of 
Sheiks and Daughters of the Mosque — 
which, of course, you are wondering 
what it is. 

The degrees will be to Workmanship 
what the Shrine is to Masons, the Mus- 
covites to the Odd Fellows and the 
Dokies to the Pythians. Mosques will 
be organized only in centers where there 
are large memberships to render their 
support sure. 

There is only one Mosque now in ex- 
istence, and that is located at Portland, 
Oregon. This is presided over by the 
author of the ritual of the new degrees. 
Arrangements have been made to or- 
ganize Mosques at Fargo, N. D., Des 
Moines, Iowa, and Little Rock, Ark., in 
the near future. 



600,000 AMERICAN LEGION. 

Reports from thirty-eight organiza- 
tions received at headquarters of the 
American legion showed a total of 600,- 
000. New York led with 85,000 mem- 
bers and Pennsylvania was second with 
40,000. New Jersey had 35,000 and 
Minnesota 25,000. Illinois and Iowa 
each had 15,000. 



The merger of the Catholic Knights 
and Ladies of America with the Colum- 
bian Circle, agreed upon last November, 
went into effect in June. It was delayed 
pending the passage of a law in the Illi- 
nois legislature validating mergers of 
this character. 



RECOGNIZING FRENCH MASONRY. 

Of 50 Grand Lodges of Masons in the 
Lmited States, 22 have given some meas- 
ure of recognition to French Masonry, 
4 have been avowedly opposed to any 
form of recognition, 12 postponed action 
after considering the subject, 12 did not 
mention the matter. 



THE EAGLES. 

A friend wrote to an official of the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles for a copy 
of the funeral or burial ritual of the 
Eagles and received the following reply : 

"Dear Sir: I have your communica- 
tion requesting a copy of the funeral or 
burial ritual of the Fraternal Order of 
Eagles. 

"If you are a member of the Order, 
you can secure this from your Worthy 
President. If you are not a member of 
the Order, it is not within my province 
to furnish you with this ritual." 

The burial ritual can not be secret 
and should therefore be open, as it seems 
to us, to any one desiring to study the 
religious teachings of the funeral serv- 
ice. 



164 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, .1919. 



WARNING THE AMERICAN LEGION. 
What the new organization should not 
do is what its predecessor [the G. A. R.] 
did too often and too much, and that 
is to inspire in its members the delusion 
that they are somehow different from 
the rest of the American people and with 
interests diverse from, and in some de- 
gree antagonistic to, their interests Only 
on such false assumptions as those is 
there any excuse for ex-soldiers to band 
together for political action. They want, 
or at any rate should want, nothing that 
is not for the good of the whole coun- 
try. 



Soldiers Become Civilians. 
It is a fundamental principle of Amer- 
icanism as well as of our form of gov- 
ernment that, while all of us are under 
obligation to render military service in 
case of need according to capacity, as 
soon as the service has been rendered 
the soldier becomes again a civilian like 
another. That he should be in any re- 
spect a being apart is repugnant to all 
our ideas — all of our avowed intentions. 
Slight mitigations of this theory are in- 
evitable in practice, and therefore are 
more than permissible. * * * The 
discharged soldier becomes a part of the 
general public. He needs no defense 
from it, and the impulse to exploit it in 
any way should never assail him. But 
organization gives power, and the temp- 
tation to misuse power, unfortunately, is 
very great. — New York Times, Mar. 18, 
1919. 



THE MYSTIC TOILERS. 

The Liberty Life Insurance Company 
is being organized at Des Moines, Iowa, 
to take over the business of the Mystic 
Toilers. The Mystic Toilers is Mr. J. 
F. Taake's Society. It has several thou- 
sand members. It will be recalled that 
Governor Harding appointed Mr. Taake 
Insurance Commissioner of Iowa, but 
when he reappointed him several months 
ago, a howl went up and the Governor 
has commenced all over again to do it 
differently. 



TEACHERS CLOSE 25 SCHOOLS. 

Public school teachers have no more 
right to affiliate themselves with the 
American Federation of Labor than 
have the policemen and unless they give 



up such federation they should be dis- 
charged. James T. Roach, Township 
Trustee, of Stockton Township, Greene 
County, Indiana, has taken the position 
that so far as teaching is concerned 
there should be an open shop. 

"Twenty-five schools in Stockton 
Township, Greene County, outside of 
Linton, did not open to-day as planned 
because of differences between James T. 
Roach, township trustee, and a teach- 
ers' union organized during the sum- 
mer." 



WORKMEN SUPREME LODGE. 

The Supreme Lodge of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen convened at 
Wilmington, Delaware, on June 9, 1919. 

Instructions were given to the Su- 
preme Master Workman to proceed in 
the courts to prevent the seceding Grand 
Lodge of Nebraska from further use of 
the name, emblems, rituals and secret 
work of the order, and the Board of Di- 
rectors was authorized to bring action 
against other seceding Grand Lodges or 
Grand Jurisdictions to prevent the use 
of the name, emblems and secret work. 



We expect to hear next that the Bap- 
tists, Unitarians, United Brethren, Elks, 
Knights of Pythias, Moose, Order of 
Owls, as well as the Masonic fratern- 
ity, will control the League of Nations 
if the Senatorial imaginations don't get 
exhausted. — Santa Fe New Mexican. 



SPECIAL SUGGESTION. 

BY O. N. BARNES. 

May the Peace Conference and the 
officers of those nations that form the 
League take the "golden rule" as their 
motto — Jesus' words as the man of 
their council — and legislate to sustain 
the same. Do we want that reign of 
peace? If we do it seems to me we must 
ask for it and do what we can, trusting 
the Lord to bring it to pass i'n His own 
good way. 

My second suggestion is as to the em- 
blem for those nations that form the 
League. A red, white and blue flag 
with a blazing star to represent "The 
Bright and Morning Star." The rest 
of the stars smaller and not so brilliant. 
Twelve stars on one side of the large 
star to represent the twelve patriarchs 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



165 



(or the twelve tribes of Israel) and 
twelve stars on the other side of the 
big star to represent the twelve Apostles. 
Then a star beneath those stars for 
every nation that joins the League. 
Then as other nations adopt this right- 
eous form of government and wish to 
join the League add a star for each one 
that wishes to do so. — Fayette, Ohio. 



The Brotherhood of Railway Clerks 
in their recent convention at Cincinnati 
adopted a resolution favoring govern- 
ment ownership of railways. They also 
thanked President Wilson for his efforts 
in behalf of labor at the peace confer- 
ence. Twelve thousand delegates at- 
tended the convention. The Grand 
President of the Brotherhood of Rail- 
way Clerks receives a yearly salary of 
$10,000 and that of the Grand Secre- 
tary-Treasurer is $7,500. 



Bishop C. L. Wood, of the United 
Brethren Church (Radical) says in The 
Christian Conservator: We are in a 
fast age, a time when the lodge stamp is 
sought to be placed on most everything. 
Even the cornerstone of churches and 
public buildings must be laid by the 
masonic trowel. The whole country 
seems lodge crazy. Many people even 
want to enact laws making it a crime to 
expose their workings or criticize them. 
Some states have done so. 

Will the anti-secret churches maintain 
their opposition? If so, can they live 
and prosper? It is high time all citizens 
who believe in our free and untrammeled 
institutions, and equal opportunities for 
every citizen of a supposedly free coun- 
try, should arouse from slumber and 
unite to demand their rights of free 
speech, and equal rights under the flag 
of our common country. It is a shame 
to the church of our day that she is in 
the business of patronizing the worldly, 
clannish lodge system of the age. But 
such is the case. 

The bread and butter of hundreds of 
preachers is largely dependent on their 
silence as to, or affiliation with this 
clannish brood of worldlings. 

May the day come and not be far dis- 
tant, when the uprooting of this whole 
selfish and unwarranted system shall 
be written in history. 



THE STRONG SUPPORT OF SECRET 
ORDERS. 

The reason for the marvelous pros- 
perity, seen in secret organizations, may 
be traced to the fact they have the 
united support of the world and the 
church. 

With the support of the world alone 
their success would not be so marked. 
But thousands of church members come 
to their aid with their talent, influence, 
and money, and in this way make the 
secret societies what they are. 

Not only so, but to the extent that 
church members aid secret orders, to 
that extent do they weaken the churehes. 
Secret societies and the churches are not 
on the. same side of the great question of 
the Christian religion. 

;jc ;■< ^ ■%. 

The solution of the problem would 
be to place the lodge men on one side 
of the line, and the church members on 
the other. To bring this about might 
lead to the expelling of a host of men 
from most of the churches, but it would 
put an end to the inconsistency of church 
members helping to sustain organiza- 
tions that are arrayed against the 
churches and their interest. — Editorial 
in The Gospel Messenger. 



The blue sky is always bigger than 
the cloud, though we may not see it. — 



Exchange. 



"It is while you are patiently toiling at 
the little tasks of life that the meaning 
and shape of the great whole life dawns 
upon you." 



Our good friend. Mr. J. C. Berg of 
Scottdale, Pennsylvania, writes: "Dear 
Brother Phillips : I am glad to know by 
the Cynosure that you are still hammer- 
ing away at the Secret Order structure. 
Hope you will soon have them hammered 
so fine we can't find a piece of them left. 
We can see every day the evil effects 
of their work leading men and women 
away from the true Light into darkness. 
The lodge is the greatest evil in the 
church today — it is the one agency the 
Devil depends on more than any other 
to help him accomplish his work." 



166 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



MORMON HISTORY. 

The National Reform Association, 
which is to hold a Conference in Pitts- 
burgh, November 9th-i6th, 1919, has 
been doing a work of great service to 
the country in its crusade against Mor- 
monism. In the September, 1919, num- 
ber of The Christian Statesman is an 
article by William E. La Rue, D. D., 
Rochester, New York, in which he at 
some length speaks of his book, "The 
Foundations of Mormonism," which is 
now on the press. He claims to have 
made a careful and critical study of the 
whole subject of Mormonism and to 
show the evil nature of the system by 
attested facts of its history. He says : 
"I discovered how their secrets and mys- 
tical practices were suggested by a cor- 
rupted form of Masonry, which grew 
out of a clandestine Mormon Masonic 
Lodge at Nauvoo [Illinois]." Reading 
the above we have wondered if Mr. La 
Rue himself is not a Mason. We hope 
that his attempt to give us the facts in 
his book "The Foundations of Mormon- 
ism" will prove more accurate than his 
statement about the secrets and mystical 
practices of Mormonism having been 
suggested to the Mormons by a "cor- 
rupted form of Masonry which grew out 
of a clandestine Mormon Masonic Lodge 
at Nauvoo. " 

The "History of Masonry in Illinois" 
from 1805-1850 by John C. Reynolds, 
Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand 
Lodge of Illinois, shows that the Mor- 
mon Masonic Lodge at Nauvoo was a 
regularly constituted Masonic lodge 
which worked under a Dispensation 
from the Grand Master of the Grand 
Lodge of Illinois. The Grand Master 
was criticized for granting a dispensation 
to this Lodge but the fact is that it was 
a regular Masonic Lodge and was so 
recognized, at least for two years and 
that it had delegates in the Grand Lodge 
of Illinois at least at two of its Grand 
Lodge Annual Meetings. 

The efforts of some Masons to have 
the Dispensation of this Mormon Ma- 
sonic lodge revoked did not cease and 
was finally, after about two years, suc- 
cessful. The Nauvoo Lodge, however, 
refused to give up its Dispensation 
charter and continued its existence as 
before and then because of its contum- 



acy the Grand Lodge of Illinois declared 
it to be a "clandestine" lodge. 
Nauvoo Lodge, U. D. 

"The dispensation for this Lodge was 
granted [by the Grand Master of the 
Grand Lodge of Illinois] October 15, 
1 841, and set to work by Grand Master 
Jonas, on the 15th of March, 1842. From 
March 15, 1842, up to the sitting of the 
Grand Lodge, this Lodge initiated 286 
candidates, and raised 243 ; and we must 
therefore be excused from giving the 
names. If the Lodge had been suffered 
to work two years longer, every Mor- 
mon in Hancock County would have 
been initiated." — History of Masonry in 
Illinois, page 184. 

Investigation of the Nauvoo Lodge by 
a committee appointed by the Illinois 
Grand Lodge contains the following: 

"The principal charges which had 
been made against the Lodge, your com- 
mittee found groundless, and without 
proof to sustain them. Irregularities 
have obtained in the work of the Lodge, 
which your committee thinks strike at 
once at the vital principles of our Order, 
and the correction of which should not 
be passed over in silence : 1st. The prac- 
tice of balloting for more than one ap- 
plicant at one and the same time.* * * 

"2nd. On one occasion an applicant, 
of at least doubtful character, was re- 
ceived on a promise of reformation and 
restitution, with the view of holding his 
future conduct in check, and making 
him a worthier and a better man. In this 
instance the motive, your committee do 
not doubt, was good, but whilst they ap- 
plaud the motive, they must condemn the 
practice, as one fraught with too much 
danger to the Craft ever to be indulged 
in." * * * — Idem, page 175. 

Then the Grand Master issued his or- 
der from which we quote : 

"The said committee having dis- 
charged the duty assigned them, have 
reported to me that the principal charges 
against said Lodge are entirely ground- 
less, and that certain irregularities in the 
work of said Lodge, which have been 
practiced in some instances, proceeded, 
in the opinion of the committee, from 
error of judgment rather than of inten- 
tion ; and, whereas, the said committee, 
after a full, patient and laborious in- 
vestigation of the case, and in view of 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



167 



all the facts before them in connection 
therewith, have unanimously recom- 
mended that the legal existence of said 
Lodge be continued." — Idem, page 173. 

The Masonic History from which we 
are quoting relates that the following 
well known Mormons were members of 
the Nauvoo Lodge and Masons in good 
standing: Joseph Smith, Sid. Regdon. 
Hyrum Smith and Heber C. Kimball. 
The Nauvoo* Mormon Lodge was also 
represented by regularly appointed dele- 
gates in the Grand Lodge of Illinois in 
1842 and 1843. 

As near as we can determine the 
Nauvoo Mormon Masonic Lodge had as 
many members at the time its Dispensa- 
tion was demanded by the Grand Lodge 
as the combined number of all the other 
Masonic lodges in the State. One of 
the complaints against this lodge in 1842 
was that all of the Mormons were be- 
coming Masons. When the Nauvoo 
Lodge in 1843 refused to surrender its 
Dispensation the Grand Lodge declared 
that it should be known thereafter as a 
clandestine lodge. 

It seems reasonable to conclude that 
the Mormon system's "secrets and mys- 
tical practices'' were suggested by and 
grew out of a knowledge of the teach- 
ings of a regularly constituted Masonic 
lodge authorized by the Grand Master 
of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. 



THE LUTHERANS. 

Though the late war is past and there 
is little call now to condemn the propa- 
ganda used to discredit the Lutheran 
Church in our midst, yet the following 
declaration of principles which was 
issued some eighteen months ago, but 
lias just come into our hands, we believe 
well worth publishing. Undoubtedly 
there are many who do not understand 
the principles which animate the Luth- 
eran Church and hence we publish the 
following taken from a report issued by 
the United Lutheran Board. There are 
a million and a half Lutherans in this 
country opposed to secret societies and 
we believe the future welfare of this 
country depends more upon these Chris- 
tian members and other anti-secret 
Christians than upon any other one 
thing. 

''Whereas, Under the American Con- 



stitution, the Lutheran Church has al- 
ways taught and confessed that State 
and Church are, by divine appointment, 
two distinct bodies having different but 
co-ordinate jurisdiction; and 

"Whereas, The Lutheran Church of 
America, true to its Confession of Faith, 
has always taught that loyalty to the 
Government and loyalty to the Church, 
as the two strongest motives in man, 
will lead, if the duties toward each are 
not confused, to a higher and stronger 
patriotism ; and 

"Whereas, The Lutheran Church has 
always stood for that conviction of prin- 
ciples and not form or language or 
fluency of language makes a good Amer- 
ican — many immigrant Lutherans hav- 
ing been loyal citizens by taking out 
their naturalization papers long before 
they took their first lessons in English ; 
and 

"Whereas, The Lutheran Church es- 
tablishes parochial schols — bi-lingual in 
some places, not because it wants to be 
un-American, or would tolerate and 
create or encourage a double citizenship 
in the church, or a double citizenship in 
the state, similar to those powers or gov- 
ernments which sanction a double al- 
legiance in their citizens, but alone be- 
cause and for the single purpose of rais- 
ing an intelligent American Christian 
citizenship. With reference to a Luth- 
eran citizen's relation to his government 
we teach that he who does not hold a 
single and undivided allegiance to the 
United States in this country, and who 
does not renounce with all his heart and 
soul and with all sincerity all allegiance 
to any and every foreign power, prince 
or potentate is a traitor. With reference 
to our schools, we teach that the Luther- 
an Church establishes schools which 
must furnish loyal American citizens, 
by affording the youth an opportunity 
of being instructed in the doctrines of 
the Lutheran faith coupled to the 
branches taught in the common schools 
of our country. Experience teaches the 
truth of the statements made by John 
Adams and Daniel Webster. The for- 
mer declared : 'Religion and virtue are 
the only foundations of all free govern- 
ments.' The latter in his Plymouth 
oration said : 'Whatever makes men good 
Christians, makes men good citizens.' 



168 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



Thus we hold that our schools are of the 
greatest importance and benefit to the 
state ; * * * 

"Therefore, Be It Resolved, That we, 
the pastors and boards (439 in number) 
of every Lutheran Church in Detroit, 
Michigan, representing 70,000 Luth- 
erans, in peaceful meeting assembled 

1. Do declare that no citizenship is 
more loyal to the Government, with one 
heart, one country, one flag, than that 
which, living up to the doctrines and 
confessions of the Lutheran Church, will 
so stand for the rights and safety of our 
nation, that democracy and liberty shall 
not perish from the earth. 

2. That we utterly condemn and to 
the utmost w T ill resist and prosecute any 
and all propaganda which seeks to perse- 
cute, disrupt and slander the American 
Lutheran Church, the American Luth- 
eran School and an American Lutheran 
Citizenship." 

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN. 

BY ALICE MANNING DICKEY. 

They lay by the trodden roadside, 
thin and pale, ragged and dirty, snug- 
gled in each other's arms and sleeping 
as heavily as if camions and ambulances 
and transport wagons w r ere not con- 
stantly rumbling past — sleeping in just 
the way any other little boy sleeps at 
night in his good, comfortable bed, or 
any other little girl in what is still not 
much more than a crib. 

The Red Cross nurse who spied them 
lying there in the dusty grass and took 
them back to the hospital with her, wrote 
home a few days later : 

"They do not know what has become 
of either father or mother! Can you 
imagine it? Two little children, eight 
and six, no bigger than Paula and 
Bobby, with no home, no people, facing 
in their baby way the problems of 
existence which have discouraged grown 
men. I tell you, my dear, here in France 
the agony of the wounded and the 
groans of the dying are not so hard to 
bear as the suffering of the little chil- 
dren. 

"As to Victor and Yvonne, if I can 
find nobody to claim them, I shall label 
them 'Mine' ! They are so brave, so 
good! And I shall keep them both, for 
they must not be separated. That would 
be too cruel." 



But even as she wrote a Greater 
Power ruled otherwise. Within the week, 
she had died in the influenza epidemic. 
Her friends in America never heard 
from her again, and no one has been 
found to tell what was the fate of little 
Victor and Yvonne. 

Victor and Yvonne are only two of 
thousands of little fatherless French 
children of similar experiences. On the 
lists of The Fatherless Children of 
France, an American organization co- 
operating with a similar one in France, 
of which Marshal Joffre is the head, 
there were 60,000 little needy children 
at the time of the armistice, for whom 
aid had not been found. Some of them 
had mothers or were being sheltered by 
some needy female relative, but the 
fathers of all had died fighting for the 
peace of the world. 

For information as to donations and 
adoptions, write to Mrs. Walter S. 
Brewster, Chairman, Special Campaign 
Committee, Fatherless Children of 
France, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. 
A little booklet of letters from French 
children will be sent to anyone interested 
who will inclose a stamped self -ad- 
dressed envelope. 



We were surprised to learn in The 
Banner of September 4th ult. of the 
death of Rev. F. Stuart of Hanford, 
California. He was a brother of our 
late member of the Board of Directors, 
Rev. W. Stuart, now of Grand Rapids, 
Michigan. One of the important serv- 
ices of the late Brother Stuart was' the 
furnishing of the manuscript in Dutch 
which we recently published and which 
has had a wide circulation among the 
Holland churches. Though we were not 
acquainted with his family we cannot 
but join with others in expressing our 
heartfelt sympathy for the widow and 
children and relatives. May the Lord 
bless them and comfort them. 



"As when a father in a garden stoops 
down to kiss a child the shadow of his 
body falls upon it, so many of the dark 
misfortunes of our life are not God 
going away from us, but our heavenly 
Father stooping down to give us the 
kiss of His infinite and everlasting love." 
— Talmage. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



169 



REBELS TO THE COMMONWEALTH. 

"To say the truth, so Judas kissed his 

Master; 
And cried — all hail! Whereas he meant — 

all harm." 

A harnessmaker, Ebert, rules Ger- 
many; a Jewish New York reporter is 
Military Dictator in Russia. Does Mr. 
Gompers, president of the American 
Federation of Labor, rule the United 
States ? 

The headquarters of the American 
Federation of Labor report 3,176,000 
members, which is rather a small minor- 
ity of the people of the United States, 
now numbering over 100,000,000. 

The police take the following oath 
here in Chicago and probably a similar 
one is administered in all of the large 
cities : 

"I do solemnly swear that I will sup- 
port the Constitution of the United 
States, and the constitution of the State 
of Illinois, and that I will faithfully dis- 
charge the duties of patrolman accord- 
ing to the best of my ability." 

• The policemen become the sworn 
servants of the State and not of any 
organization of private citizens whatso- 
ever. 

An ordinary man who is false to his 
legally administered oath ought to be 
punished for perjury, but a policeman 
commits treason and should suffer the 
penalty of a traitor. 

The police in twenty-one cities are 
already affiliated with the American 
Federation of Labor and those in thirty- 
six other cities are asking admission. In 
Boston the police went out on a strike to 
compel the authorities to recognize the 
union. That servants of all the people 
should not be under special obligation 
to a few is an axiom. The Police Unions 
regard their sworn obligation to the city 
a mere scrap of paper. Let thieves and 
thugs work their will — what do we care 
is the apparent attitude. Merchants in 
Boston barricaded their doors and 
boarded up their windows. 

Tn Winnipeg, Canada, the Postal 
Clerks, Firemen and Policemen and 
other employes of the public claimed the 
same legal and moral right to walk out 
in sympathy with strikers as have em- 
ployes of private corporations. Such 
views ought not to be tolerated, for they 
are revolutionary assaults on the very 



foundations of constitutional and demo- 
cratic government. If constituted au- 
thorities do not take the most resolute 
legal measures to put an end to a strike 
of public employes, then "vigilant com- 
mittees'' must be formed to take their 
place. 



TIE UP BOSTON. 

The Central Labor Union, which met 
September nth, to consider the advis- 
ability of calling a general strike in svm • 
pathy with the Boston police adjourned 
after ordering affiliated unions, which 
have not yet voted separately on the 
question, to vote as soon as possible. 

In separate meetings the majority of 
the labor unions in this city previously 
voted in favor of joining a general strike. 



GOVERNMENT BY MINORITIES? NO. 

Mr. Gompers has asked Gov. Coolidge 
of Massachusetts to take a "broad view" 
of the Boston policemen's strike, to 
which the governor replied that he in- 
tended to "defend the sovereignty of 
Massachusetts." We devoutly trust he 
will do so, not merely for the sake of 
Massachusetts but for the sake of the 
American republic. 

We do not think the American people 
is ready for government by trade unions 
or by any minorities, however well or- 
ganized and strategically situated. But 
it is time the American people began to 
see the meaning of the disintegrating ten- 
dencies which have appeared in our 
American life in these later years. If 
a group of policemen or firemen or rail- 
way workers can strangle the public into 
submission to any demands they see fit 
to make there is the end of democracy 
and the beginning of that chaos of fac- 
tion which has ruined past democracies 
and opened the way to tyranny. 

It may be a temptation for Boston to 
smooth over the strike of its policemen. 
But if this is done a poisonous precedent 
will have been set and the whole coun- 
try wiH some day pay for it. — The Tri- 
bune, Sept. 16, 1919. 



The Chicago Evening Post, Chicago, 
of Sept. 15. K)io. has this to say edi- 
torially of Gov. Coolidge of Massachu- 
setts in the Boston policemen's strike: 

"More power to the governor! If he 



170 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



wins, he wins a victory for fundamental 
principle instead of for expediency. He 
establishes the commonsense fact that a 
policeman is and must be the servant of 
all of us and not merely of a part of 
us." 



President Wilson heard of the strike 
of the Policemen in Boston where shop 
windows were being smashed and their 
display of goods stolen and women were 
being pursued by mad hoodlums, and 
men shot down in the streets and has- 
tened to say: "A strike of the policemen 
of a great city, leaving that city at the 
mercy of any army of thugs, is a crime 
against civilization. 

"In my judgment, the obligation of a 
policeman is as sacred and direct as the 
obligation of a soldier. He is a public 
servant, not a private employe, and the 
whole honor of the community is in his 
hands. 

"He has no right to prefer any pri- 
vate, advantage to the public safety." 



In the meantime what was Mr. Gom- 
pers and his subordinates in the Ameri- 
can Federation of Labor doing? They 
were calling meetings in Boston to con- 
sider the advisability of a general sym- 
pathetic strike. 

Massachusetts has a Governor and 
Boston a Commissioner of Police that the 
whole country ought to be proud of. 
The striking police were discharged and 
soldiers called to duty. Immediately 
Mr. Gompers gets in touch with Gov- 
ernor Coolidge of Massachusetts and 
urges him to discharge the Police Com- 
missioner Curtis and have the policemen 
reinstated. The Governor's good Am- 
erican, patriotic message to Mr. Gom- 
pers is well worth pondering: 
Text of Message. 

The message said : 

"Replying to your telegram, I have al- 
ready refused to remove the police com- 
missioner of Boston. I did not appoint 
him. He can assume no position which 
the courts would uphold except what the 
people have by the authority of their 
law vested in him. He speaks only with 
their voice. 

"The right of the police of Boston to 
affiliate has always been questioned, 
never granted, and is now prohibited. 



The suggestion of President Wilson to 
Washington does not apply to Boston. 
There the police have remained on duty. 
Here the policemen's union left their 
duty, an action which President Wilson 
characterized as a crime against civili- 
zation. 

"Your assertion that the commissioner 
was wrong cannot justify the wrong of 
leaving the city unguarded. That fur- 
nished the opportunity, the criminal ele- 
ment furnished the action. There is no 
right to strike against the public safety 
by anybody, anywhere, any time. 

"You ask that the public safety again 
be placed in the hands of these same 
policemen while they continue in dis- 
obedience to the laws of Massachusetts 
and the orders of the police department. 
Nineteen men have been tried and re- 
moved. Others having abandoned their 
duty, their places have under the law 
been declared vacant on the opinion of 
the attorney general. I can suggest no 
authority outside the courts to take fur- 
ther action. 

"I wish to join and assist in taking a 
broad view of every situation. A grave 
responsibility rests on all of us. 

"You can depend on me to support 
you in every legal action and sound 
policy. 

"I am equally determined to defend 
the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to 
maintain the authority and jurisdiction 
over her public officers where it has been 
placed by the constitution and laws of 
her people. 

"Calvin Coolidge, 
"Governor of Massachusetts." 



THE ISSUE IN THE BOSTON STRIKE. 

American cities must settle, once for 
all, and settle wisely, the issue now 
acutely presented in Boston. The pub- 
lic cannot afford to tolerate further neg- 
lect or cowardly evasion of the issue 
thus raised. 

Because the American people have a 
right to provide adequately for the pro- 
tection of their lives and property^ po- 
licemen and firemen cannot be permitted 
to strike. 

No person is forced to enter the police 
or the fire prevention service of a city. 
Whoever does enter either service is en- 
titled to and should receive just treat- 
ment. Therefore the law should explic- 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



171 



itly provide for prompt consideration 
and fair arbitration of disputes that may 
arise between civic guardians of peace, 
order and property, and their employer, 
the municipal corporation. Justice should 
be guaranteed to them by express pro- 
visions of law. That done, the possi- 
bility of strikes should be totally elim- 
inated from the police and fire preven- 
tion services. 

The Boston police strike is a plain 
warning to local and state lawmakers. 
It is more — it is an imperative call to 
duty. The right of policemen and fire- 
men to affiliate with a general labor 
union, assume obligations that are in- 
compatible with public security, serve 
other masters than those the law recog- 
nizes, is a question that can no longer 
be safely left to the discretion of this 
or that public official. Some officials 
are courageous ; many are timid and 
shifty. Some officials adopt one policy 
and some another. Confusion, uncer- 
tainty and inconsistency breed trouble. 
In Boston the police strikers seek to 
force a fearless chief to reverse himself 
and cancel a prohibition of police affilia- 
tion with labor unions. The chief is 
accused of tyranny and arbitrary rule. 
What he has endeavored to do the law 
itself should do for the entire state. 

Policemen and firemen are not in the 
same category with ordinary wage work- 
ers ; the right to strike and paralyze the 
life of the community or, what is even 
worse, turn it over to the mercies of the 
criminal and semicriminal elements, 
should be definitely renounced by them 
under carefully worked out statutory 
provisions amply protective of the legiti- 
mate interests of all concerned. — The 
(Chicago) Daily News, Sept. 12, 1919. 



SEMI-TREASON. 

There is no possibility for intelligent 
settlement of the economic problems 
which confront both labor and capital 
under existing conditions ; nor is there 
any hope of bettering conditions so long 
as men insist on making this critical 
hour one of conflict instead of co-opera- 
tion. Temporary settlement may be 
made in specific instances, but every 
such arrangement only tends to further 
and more radical disarrangement of the 
industrial structure as a whole. The 



group of workers who strike today and 
get a settlement at a higher wage tomor- 
row have only added to the burden 
under which the nation is staggering — 
a burden that at any hour may become 
unsupportable. * * * 

We believe in the right of labor to 
organize; in the principle of collective 
bargaining, and in a steady progress to- 
ward a larger measure of industrial 
democracy. 

But organized labor must recognize 
its responsibility to interests of the com- 
munity as a whole; the principle of col- 
lective bargaining must be established 
upon a basis of mutual obligation, and 
industrial democracy must come as the 
result of mutual understanding and co- 
operative effort. 

When the power of organization is 
used to benefit a class at the cost of the 
common welfare, then it is abused, and 
it must be fought and checked by the 
power of the people. When the prin- 
ciple of collective bargaining is inter- 
preted to mean that the employer must 
keep his contract but the worker can 
break it as he pleases, it ceases to be a 
principle and becomes a confidence game. 
When industrial democracy is made the 
disguise for a labor autocracy it is time 
to call a halt and to remind labor of 
what democracy really signifies. 

The best friends of labor are those 
who, like President Wilson, urge a truce 
in a time of world crisis. The greatest 
need of the world, the greatest need of 
America today, is co-operative effort to 
restore what war destroyed. Until this 
is done there can be no lasting or satis- 
factory settlement of other problems. 
Fundamental readjustment demands two 
things — a greatly intensified production 
and a careful economy of expenditure. 
Six months of applying these remedies 
would bring things back to normal, and 
with the fever gone and the mind clear 
we could then take up intelligently and 
with mutual good will the further re- 
adjustments that must be made. — The 
Chicago Evening Post, August 27, 1919. 



"Keep not your religion for the pul- 
pit; have it at heart and at hand, at 
dinner and at tea, and let every occur- 
rence furnish you with a subject for 
spiritual improvement." — Cor. Winther. 



172 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION. 

BY J. R. KAYE, PH.D., LL.D. 
{Concluded from September Number.) 
We should frankly admit that it is not 
a simple matter to proper])- interpret and 
adequately judge the conditions that are 
creating a problem of the most serious 
nature. We are trying to discover how 
much of justification there is for much 
that is now transpiring, and to what ex- 
tent it is taking the form of unbridled 
license. It leads us to seriously inquire 
whether the spirit of rebellion is break- 
ing loose over the land, and if so, what 
sort of a rebellion, and whether it is 
grounded in existing conditions that jus- 
tify it. If so justified, then are we to 
blame the rebellion or the conditions? 
But even if the conditions existed, is the 
rebellious attitude ever right, and should 
not the conditions be corrected in a more 
lawful manner? With the character and 
freedom of our American institutions it 
should never be necessary to right a 
wrong in a wrong way, or in a manner 
incompatible with those institutions. 

Let it be admitted, for example, that 
the present high cost of living is essen- 
tially wrong, and is rendering it impos- 
sible for thousands of underpaid people 
to carry the burden that is laid upon 
them ; that while the income of certain 
classes has increased with the increase 
of the cost of living, that has not been 
true of tens of thousands of others who 
have the same right to live and are be- 
ing crushed by the load that is being 
added to rather than diminished. Ad- 
mitting the facts, the moment we resort 
to rebellious methods to correct such 
wrongs, at that moment we declare the 
inadequacy and inefficiency of our Amer- 
ican institutions to cope with the needs 
and secure to those living under these 
institutions their inalienable rights. 
The Industrial Situation. 
This question holds a place of para- 
mount importance in the disordered pre- 
vailing conditions. Labor declares it has 
a right to a larger portion of the profits 
it is producing;, and capital claims it has 
a right to its accumulations by virtue of 
the money invested. As long as industry 
is viewed on both sides only in the light 
of the accumulation of wealth the con- 
flict between capital and labor will never 
cease. The enmity, strikes and lockouts 



will not only continue to exist, but will' 
become a deadly menace, and sooner or 
later the growing spirit of rebellion will 
burst into a flame. 

When industry is interpreted in terms 
of the advancement of the social well- 
being and not simply as the accumulation 
of wealth, then the way is opened for the 
true co-operation of all the parties to in- 
dustry. And this cooperation is the in- 
dispensable element in the reconstruction 
that is now the problem before the world. 

It is this materialistic interpretation 
of things that grounds the conflict that 
is so bitterly waged in the industrial 
world. Under such conditions if cap- 
ital and labor were to exchange places 
the situation would not be altered. Labor 
becoming capital would do precisely what 
capital is now doing, and capital would 
do just what labor is doing. The laborer 
transformed into the capitalist would not 
be transformed into a saint because he 
formerly lived under the conditions of 
labor.. The trouble in both cases is to be 
looked for in the fundamental misinter- 
pretation of industry. The axe must 
strike at the roots. Lopping off a few 
branches here and there will not essen- 
tially alter the industrial situation of the 
world. 

Both parties to industry have protected 
themselves against each other by a strong 
organization of the units in the form of 
labor unions and capitalistic associations. 
They are not partners in this great in- 
terest of human life, but enemies. The 
unions may call a strike, or the associa- 
tions may declare a lockout, and every- 
body suffers. Compromises are not a 
solution of the problem. Dissolving the 
unions and associations would not in it- 
self solve the problem. As already noted, 
the trouble lies deeper. It is grounded 
in fundamental ethical law which both 
sides must come to recognize and submit 
to its demands. 



"It is good for us, that upon this vast 
and unknown sea of life, God's winds 
and waves are wiser and stronger than 
the pilots, and often bring our frail 
crafts into havens which we never 
sought."— C. F. Goss. 



Let us advance upon our knees. — 
Joseph Hardy Neesima. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



173 



A PATRIOTIC LABOR UNION. 

The International Secretary of The 
International Union of Steam and Op- 
erating Engineers, Mr. H. M. Comer- 
ford, blames the steel trouble on radicals 
and foreigners. He says : "I am wholly 
out of sympathy with the Fitzpatrick- 
Foster movement. 

"Take this man Foster. Some little 
time ago he was quoted as saying — re- 
ferring to the steel companies — 'They've 
got a few scared. I'm sorry to say they 
are Americans. The foreigners are our 
best material. They are not afraid of 
a fight ; they're more independent than 
the Americans ; they're not afraid of the 
boss.' If he's correctly quoted, and I 
never have seen that he repudiated the 
statement, I want to say that it's about 
time the American people in this country 
made Mr. Foster understand that they 
understand what Americanism means, 
and that they are not looking for a man 
of Foster's type for their leader. 

"The International Union of Steam 
and Operating Engineers is not on strike 
in the steel industry. Furthermore, it 
will not be on strike. Even if this union 
had a personal grievance it would not 
strike in the face of a request made by 
the President of the United States, that 
no action be taken until after he had 
opportunity to confer with the various 
parties to the controversy on Oct. 6. As 
it is the members of the Steam and Op- 
erating Engineers' International Union 
will remain at their posts." 



PRESIDENT WILSON HITS STRIKES. 

"The men who want to cure the 
wrongs of governments by destroying 
governments are going to be destroyed 
themselves ; destroyed, I mean, by the 
chaos that they have created, because if 
you remove the organism of society and, 
even if you are strong enough to take 
anything that you want, you are not 
smart enough to keep it. The next 
stronger fellow will take it away from 
you and the most audacious group 
amongst you will make slaves and tools 
of you. That is the truth that is going 
to 'master society in Russia and in any 
other place that tries Russia's unhappy 
example. 

Race Riots and Police Strikes. 

"And I hope you will not think it in- 
appropriate if I stop here to express my 



shame as an American citizen at the race 
riots that have occurred in some places 
in this country, where men have forgot- 
ten humanity and justice and ordered 
society and have run amuck. That con- 
stitutes a man not only the enemy of 
society but his own enemy and the en- 
emy of justice. And I want to say this, 
too, that a strike of the policemen of a 
great city, leaving that city at the mercy 
of an army of thugs, is a crime against 
civilization. 

"In my judgment the obligation of a 
policeman is as sacred and direct as the 
obligation of a soldier. He is a public 
servant, not a private employe, and the 
whole honor and safety of the commun- 
ity is in his hands. He has no right to 
prefer any private advantage to the pub- 
lic safety. I hope that that lesson will 
be burned in so that it will never again 
be forgotten, because the pride of Amer- 
ica is that it can exercise self-control. 
That is what a self-governing nation is, 
not merely a nation that elects people to 
do its jobs for it, but a nation that can 
keep its head, concert its purposes and 
find out how its purposes can be exe- 
cuted.'' — The (Chicago) Daily News, 
Sept. 12, 1919. 



THE RIGHT TO STRIKE. 

A bill has been introduced in Con- 
gress by Senator Cummins which pre- 
scribes drastic penalties for even the of- 
ficially authorized strike on the rail- 
roads. 

At first glance it might be predicted 
that labor will fight such a bill to the last 
ditch, and perhaps it will. Yet it is evi- 
dent that the bill is not a blow aimed 
at labor. 

It provides penalties for lockouts as 
well as strikes. It provides for the cre- 
ation of a committee on wages and 
working conditions, in which labor shall 
have equal representation with the rail- 
way officials. It also create a fund for 
the betterment of working conditions. 

The strike at the best is a cruel 
weapon. It injures those who wield it 
as well as those who feel its impact. It 
inflicts enormous losses upon the many 
in order to effect small gains, often il- 
lusory, for the few. It injures a thou- 
sand innocents in order to reach one 
guilty man. 



174 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



Moreover, it is a weapon that, latter- 
ly, has been much abused. From exact- 
ing a due wage by force to extracting an 
undue one is a short step, especially un- 
der the leadership of unscruplous men 
who are thinking more of themselves 
than of those they represent. — The Chi- 
cago Evening Post, Sept. 6, 1919. 



EMPLOYER'S TIME. 

A plumber and a painter were work- 
ing in the same house. The painter ar- 
rived late and the plumber said to him : 

"You are late this morning." 

"Yes," said the painter. "I had to 
stop and have my hair cut." 

"You did not do it on your employer's 
time, did you?" said the plumber. 

"Sure, I did," said the painter; "it 
grew on his time." 



HIGH FRATERNALISM. 

4 'Scuse me, boss, but would you mind 
'vancin' me a dollar to jine de loge dis 
evenin' ?" 

"I guess so, Uncle Jake. But seems 
to me you're always joining lodges. 
What's the name of the particular 
lodge?" 

"Please, suh, it am de Suplime De- 
fenders ob de Royal Purple Order ob de 
Constellations ob Epicures." 

"Gee whiz — it only costs a dollar to 
join such a mighty lodge as that?" 

"Suttinly, boss. Dat ain't nuthin'. 
You ought see what I could jine fo' a 
dollar an'a half or two dollars." 



Question — What is the total member- 
ship of the American Federation of 
Labor ? 

Answer — The headquarters of the 
American Federation of Labor report 
3,176,000 members. 



"Good thoughts are blessed guests, 
and should be heartily welcomed, well 
fed and much sought after. Like rose 
petals, they give out a sweet smell if 
laid up in the jar of memory." — Spur- 



g^eon. 



"We bring, O Lord, with willing hand 
The fruit of love and labors given ; 

The gift that rises from the land 

The growth of valley, hill and plain." 



THE CHURCH BEHIND THE 
REFORM. 

BY REV. A. B. BOWMAN, GEN'l SECY. OF THE 

GENERAL UNITED BRETHREN 

CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 

SOCIETY. 

(The following address, delivered at the 
annual convention of the National Christian 
Association in the Mennonite Church, Chi- 
cago, June 6th, 1919, was stenographically 
reported, but has not been read or corrected 
by the speaker.) 

Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, 
T am indeed glad to be here. I think this 
is the third National Christian Associa- 
tion convention that I have been privi- 
leged to attend. I always find it a real 
joy and a real personal blessing to hear 
the speakers on these great themes. I 
am pleased to represent here the young 
people of our church whom, so far as I 
know, are all opposed to secret societies. 
I want to say this : The strength of our 
church against secret societies is in the 
young people. We naturally expect the 
old people to stand true on this ques- 
tion, and in our church the young people 
are true. 

I see in this subject, "The Church Be- 
hind the Reform," a very vital subject, 
and I am going to treat it from the stand- 
point of my own experience, which has 
been in Michigan and largely in rural 
districts, where perhaps the church I 
was pastor of would be the only church 
in a large community, but sometimes I 
have been in a small village where my 
church would refuse and another church 
would fellowship secret society mem- 
bers. It is from experiences in such 
fields that I am going to speak and show 
that the church should be behind this 
reform. 

The church is the one divine institu- 
tion that is organized to oppose evil in 
this world. Take away the church and 
we have no organized opposition to evil. 
We know that sin and evil are organized. 
We know on moral questions where the 
devil will stand, and what the attitude 
of his organizations will be. If we as 
Christians expect to accomplish the over- 
throw of sin, of organized sin and or- 
ganized evil, then the church of Jesus 
Christ, this institution that is organized 
and is by divine plan to be a blessing in 
the world, should get behind the reforms 
and push them along. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



175 




REV. A. B. BOWMAN. 

Now a reform must be a moral re- 
form to be worth while. I think we 
should choose reforms and that the 
church should be enlisted only in moral 
reforms. And there are reforms that 
have a moral issue, that stand out clear- 
ly as such and those are the reforms 
that I would say the church of Jesus 
Christ should advocate and should get 
behind. The church ought to oppose 
evils that involve great moral issues. 

Is the anti-secrecy reform a worth- 
while reform? Is this a moral reform? 
I want to present a few facts along this 
line to show that the church of Jesus 
Christ should be behind this reform and 
push forward this movement. 

The Lodge is a competitor of the 
Church ; I am persuaded to believe that 
from what I have seen. Men in a cer- 
tain community that the church may 
have dealings with, have only about so 
much time, so much money that they 
can afford to spend aside from what 
they need to live on, and they have only 
limited talents. If an institution aside 
from the church can enlist the men, and 



can obtain their money, and their talents 
and time, then the church of Jesus 
Christ can not have these men, nor their 
money nor their time. I have seen often 
a real competition between the lodge and 
the church right on these lines. Whether 
the lodge was to get the men or whether 
the church was to get the men, became 
a contest. 

Even when men are Christian the 
lodge often seeks to use their talents and 
their time and energy in the interests of 
the lodge — interests and energy which 
should be spent in the service of the 
church and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I 
am sure this is true of the lodge from 
what lodge men have told me. (I never 
was a lodge member of any kind. My 
father was not a lodge member and 
didn't believe in lodges and taught me 
so that I am opposed to secret societies. 
I was brought up that way and educated 
along that line.) I was calling in com- 
pany with a Methodist preacher in a 
small country village, and while we were 
visiting in a home where the man was 
not a Christian, the gentleman asked this 
M. E. pastor, ''How can you be a 
Christian and a minister of the Gospel 
and an Odd-Fellow, too?" That min- 
ister began to apologize by saying: Odd- 
Fellowship is not a religious institution 
at all. In fact, he said that he thought 
it was a social institution and that men 
got together to have a social time and 
get acquainted with each other. That 
was the answer he made to this gentle- 
man. I asked this minister this ques- 
tion, "Why, if the Odd-Fellow's lodge 
is not a religious institution — a religious 
organization, and has no religion to offer 
— why do they have an altar and a chap- 
lain and a Bible? And why do they 
have prayers, and why do they have a 
burial ritual ?" When I asked him these 
questions he was silent. The lodge offers 
a system of religion — it is a religion. I 
want to say from personal experience 
that the religious lodge is the greatest 
evil that we have to contend against — 
a religion without Christ for the men in 
a community, where the church is trying 
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ — 
that He is the only way. 

I have heard one thing and then an- 
other thing about the lodge, but when 
I talked with men about secret societies, 



176 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



and why the}- were in them, they have 
answered. "If I live up to what my 
lodge teaches I will get through all 
right." I have heard that more' often 
than anything else. Men are self-deceiv- 
able. Doubtless they are willing sub- 
jects of Satan's mesmeric power. 

I am going to express my opinion, and 
you, of course, can have yours, but I 
believe that the inventor of the secret 
lodge is the Arch Deceiver. I think that 
Satan himself has put forth the lodge 
system on purpose to deceive and damn 
men. The Mason reads from the Bible, 
but it is not this Bible correctly quoted, 
as we very well know. I made that 
statement in a little schoolhouse once 
where it had been announced that I was 
to speak on the lodge question, and a 
man came up and said to me, "It is a 
lie." I proposed to him to bring the 
Masonic ritual and we would take the 
Bible and the lodge ritual and he should 
read the Scripture from the lodge ritual 
and I would read the same Scripture 
from the Word of God, and we would 
see whether the word Christ which ap- 
peared in my Bible was not eliminated 
from the portion used in his ritual. He 
didn't dare to take up the challenge ; 
he was afraid it was so, and said, 
"Maybe you are right," and that ended 
it. They have taken out the vital and es- 
sential thing for the salvation of a soul 
when they take out the Savior, Jesus 
Christ, from the Word of God. Hence 
I think the lodge is an arch deceiver, 
and that the system is devised by Satan 
himself on purpose to deceive and de- 
stroy men. I am sure that it accom- 
plishes that very end. 

The lodge is also a relic of heathen- 
ism. I think there is more truth than 
poetry about the claims that some of the 
lodges are ancient. I will tell you how 
they are ancient. They perpetuate the 
rites of ancient heathenism. I can prove 
that some of the lodge titles of the men 
and women who are leaders in the lodges 
of various kinds were the names of va- 
rious ancient gods and goddesses. They 
have similar principles and hence show 
themselves as relics of heathenism. 
They are ancient in that respect. 

I want to speak about the immoral 
practices of the lodges. I never have 
been a lodge member, but I have 



learned many facts in one way or an- 
other concerning its practices. It is a 
fact that the practice of the gambling 
evil goes on behind lodge doors. A 
gentleman converted at one of my meet- 
ings told me that he spent nearly all of 
his spare time— he would go to the Odd 
Fellows lodge in a village near his home 
—gambling. And he told me more than 
that about the liquor evil. I have been 
engaged in the prohibition fight in 
Michigan, and especially in trying to 
enforce the law in local option counties 
where the county had prohibition. I 
have discovered more than once that the 
blind pig in small communities was the 
lodge room itself. 

A man who was drunk pretty nearly 
all of the time was finally converted to 
God and became a good Christian. He 
said, "Do you know where I got the 
liquor, when I used to g(tt it? My wife 
didn't want me to get any. We had local 
option and you people wondered where 
I got the liquor." 

I said, "Yes, I would like to know." 
He said, "Our janitor who took care 
of the Odd Fellows lodge used to have 
it there for us." 

That state of things has been proved 
several times, to my knowledge. One 
night there was a fire about two 
o'clock at night in the Knights of 
Pythias hall, and a gentleman who as- 
sisted at the fire said he saw men there 
in that lodge room rolling kegs of liquor 
out of the lodge room. They threat- 
ened to prosecute him, but he had wit- 
nesses to prove what he said. 

A lady got up in the Michigan Chris- 
tian Association convention a few years 
ago and said that she had a good, kind 
husband, but finally he joined the Ma- 
sonic lodge, and then the first thing she 
knew he was beginning to drink. She 
told us this with tears in her eyes. He 
had died a drunkard just a few years 
before. I knew the woman; I knew her 
son — he was one of our ministers in 
years past — and she said her husband 
learned to drink right in the lodge. The 
city of Petoskey, Mich., a town of about 
five thousand, is the town where I was 
raised and lived until I was twenty-one 
years of age. My father is in business 
there and I was there all my life until 
T got out into the ministry. Young men. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



177 



with whom I graduated in school have 
joined the lodge and they have told me 
that after the lodge had closed its ses- 
sion and they were about to disperse 
that the suggestion would be made that 
the whole bunch go to the red-light dis- 
trict. Proposed right in the lodge room ! 
Although I have never been a mem- 
ber of any lodge, these things are told 
me about them by the men who know 
the truth and I am sure they were telling 
the truth. 

I have asked Christian men and 
women who have belonged to lodges this 
question about immorality of the lodge 
in gambling and drinking and have asked 
how they could be a member of such 
lodges that put up the dance. The lodge 
is usually the organization that gets up 
the dances for the community — it is 
true in every community. Men have 
told me other things about the lodge. I 
think there is the spirit of anarchy in 
the lodge. It appears from the fact that 
they will combine together to see that 
they have liquor for their own members 
and in violation of the law ; so there is 
the spirit of anarchy. The lodge can 
easily defy the law, because it is a secret 
organization and they can thus violate 
the law with impunity. 

I have been told about their benevo- 
lence and the great good they were do- 
ing — more than the church. They as- 
sume they are doing the same kind of 
benevolent work that the Church of the 
Lord Jesus Christ is doing. In a small 
community, where there is not much 
benevolent work to be done they assume 
they are the organization that is doing 
it, and that the church is doing nothing 
at all. It is pure assumption. I have 
often told them that if they would give 
the church the men and women and the 
time and the talents that they have taken 
from her, perhaps the church in a small 
community would have more to do with : 
but give the lodge all the men and all 
the money in town, they certainly ought 
to do something for benevolence. The 
very claim they make, however, is not 
true. 

There is a gang-spirit that makes the 
lodge dangerous, and that is one of the 
reasons why we, as a church of Jesus 
Christ, oppose it. 

Politically this is so. I know of a 



blacksmith in the city of Petoskey, 
Mich., who was nominated for alder- 
man, I think it was, and he came to me 
and said, "I am going to be elected." 
He was nominated on the prohibition 
ticket, and yet he said, "I am going to 
be elected." Then this is what he said, 
"We have a hundred or more voters that 
belong to the same lodge that I belong 
to." That was the reason he thought 
he would be elected. There seemed to 
be an understanding that when one of 
the members of the lodge was put up 
for office, that all the members should 
support him, but he was proved wrong 
this time. They had an understanding 
of that kind, that they were to support 
him because he was a member of the 
order, but they thought more of the 
whisky and of other things than they did 
of the lodge end, and fought him down 
because he was a prohibitionist, instead 
of voting him in because he was a lodge 
member. 

I will relate another incident which 
came under my observation. I was quite 
active in trying to locate blind pigs in 
our county and the mayor of the city 
of St. Louis, Mich., said, "We have a 
'blind pig' here in the city of St. Louis 
that we cannot find, and I want you to 
come over and help us." 

I went over to the city about three 
and one-half miles away and went into 
the hotel where the blind pig was sup- 
posed to be. Just as I got into the office, 
a gentleman came running in and I could 
tell by the way he talked and by his 
anxiety that he wanted something to 
drink, and as he conversed with the 
clerk, I overheard him say "room 16." 
I went over to the mayor's home and 
said, "Send over to room 16." 

An old soldier was the bartender in 
room 1 6. He had a little outfit in that 
room which he fitted up and furnished 
drinks to the men. He said, "I am an 
old soldier. They won't send me, an old 
soldier, over the road." And the next 
thing he said was, "I am a Freemason." 
And he supposed this would save him. 
Of course the judge might have been a 
Freemason, I don't know about that, but 
he was a very enthusiastic prohibitionist, 
a believer in local option, and when this 
man's case came up, he was convicted. 
He was sentenced and sent to the work- 



178 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



house. He thought he could violate the 
law because he was a lodge member. 
He counted on the gang-spirit to save 
him. The same thing is true along busi- 
ness lines. I remember my father 
started out in business with a very little 
capital in the city of Petoskey, Mic]?., 
which was then just a little village. Just 
as soon as he started in business a man 
came to him and said, "We would like 
to see you succeed, but you must join 
our lodges if you want to succeed in 
business in this city." 

My father said, "I don't believe in 
lodges." But they said, "We will boy- 
cott you if you do not join our lodges — 
prominent men in the village are mem- 
bers." They tried to coerce him and to 
compel him in order to make a success 
in business to join the lodge. He would 
not join it and he did succeed in busi- 
ness, but this illustrates the gang-spirit 
of the thing. 

Xow if you go into a small community 
or a small village where the social 
events are controlled by the lodge — 
whether you belong to the lodge or not 
— that spirit will come right to the front. 
I know a young lady who moved a mile 
into a small country village ; our church 
there was anti-secret, but the other 
church took in members of secret socie- 
ties. The pastor of that church called 
on her and wanted her to join his church. 
She said she belonged to the Wesleyan 
Methodist Church, and "I have a letter 
from my church to the Wesleyan Meth- 
odist Church here." He said, "You 
don't want to join that church in this 
village, if you want to belong to good 
society and get into the social swim; you 
want to join the popular liberal church." 
This is the position that he took : We 
are liberal, we are popular, we take in 
secret society members and everything 
else, and so you can only be in the social 
swim with us. 

Xow I want you to notice how we 
can best stand behind reform — how the 
church can, I mean. I think one thing 
is needed and should be insisted on, viz., 
that every church should refuse mem- 
bership to lodge members. I think the 
anti-secret standard ought to be raised 
by every church. I remember a young 
gentleman was at a meeting that was 
held in the country. He belonged to a 



secret society, but his father had been 
converted and left the lodge. He was 
poor, he had a large family and had in- 
surance in the little secret society that 
he belonged to. He thought he had bet- 
ter drop it in order to be a good Chris- 
tian and yet he did not know just what 
to do. That is what he told me. I ad- 
vised him to drop his secret society con- 
nection and obey his convictions, and the 
Lord would take care of him. The pas- 
tor two and a half miles away said to 
him, "My church takes in members of 
secret societies," and that pastor went 
to him and said, "Brother, you ought to 
join our church ; you ought to be a mem- 
ber of the church, you are a lodge mem- 
ber and you cannot join that other 
church, so you better join this." 

Now that situation prevails where 
there are only two churches and one is 
an anti-secret church and the other 
church takes in secret society members. 
I cannot see how a church can success- 
fully push forward when one pastor will 
say. "We will take you in." This is a 
serious proposition in some localities for 
churches that are anti-secret. 

If the pulpit will ring true on this re- 
form then it will speedily win. You 
know how it was with prohibition. It 
was not fought out until the pulpits ev- 
erywhere in the country got up with one 
accord to speak and to preach prohibi- 
tion of the liquor traffic, right from the 
shoulder, and that has brought the thing 
into prominence and made the law in 
favor of prohibition. And it is so with 
any reform. The pulpit must ring true. 
I am told that the slavery question was 
brought into prominence and into suc- 
cess right along the same lines, that is, 
through the pulpits ringing out the facts. 
Then it was a success. The public con- 
science was aroused ; it is about the only 
way it can be done. 

Take two churches in a small com- 
munity that are both anti-secret and in 
order to make a success of a reform 
movement in that situation they should 
combine together in reform efforts. 
They should hold meetings once in a 
while together. Suppose there are two 
anti-secret churches and only one 
church prominently holds up the re- 
form. All the fire of opposition seems 
to be directed against that church. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



179 



Hence let all of the churches that are 
anti-secret act united on this subject so 
that the community can see we are all 
standing for that one thing. That would 
strengthen any reform. I am sure that 
ministers of the Gospel could do great 
good and bring this reform into promi- 
nence by following this plan. 

I am not talking about Chicago, I am 
talking about Michigan, and country 
parishes everywhere. If ministers and 
the people who are anti-secret would go 
out into the schoolhouses here and 
there and announce meetings, they will 
get the schoolhouses full in any rural 
district. Everybody would go, secret 
lodge members and all will go to hear a 
man say what he has to say on the lodge 
question. It seems to me this reform 
could be then more rapidly carried for- 
ward, and the people would learn that 
the church of Jesus Christ, at least in 
some degree, is behind the reform. 

Get out and agitate the question. You 
can agitate any sin to death, and any 
reform will grow and thrive and prosper 
that is agitated. The more it is agitated, 
the more people's eyes are opened and 
see what is to be seen and know what 
is to be known about the reform, and I 
think we are altogether too silent. I 
believe we ought to do personal work. If 
I believe it is a sin for people to belong 
to a lodge, I ought to tell my fellow 
Christians that very thing. I am sure 
that anti-secret people feel this way — I 
am speaking of the ones I am ac- 
quainted with. When a man is a Chris- 
tian enjoying the presence of God in his 
heart, at the same time it makes him an 
ardent, enthusiastic anti-secretist as well. 
I believe when writing a letter in putting 
in an anti-secrecy tract. I know it does 
good. I have heard men say so. They 
were glad to get the information that 
the tract brought. 

Now there is another thing that I 
wish to call your attention to, and that 
is, that no moral reform will succeed 
without prayer behind it. I believe the 
prohibition of the liquor traffic was 
brought about in answer to prayer. I 
know that wherever I have come in con- 
tact with the leaders, they have been 
Christian men who believe in prayer. I 
never saw a political meeting of prohi- 
bitionists open without prayer. You 



may have seen a meeting that did not, 
but I never have. And the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union was com- 
posed a few years back of Christian 
people — mothers who had the truest 
faith in Jesus Christ were the ones who 
were the leaders in the Women's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union. W r hen I came 
in contact with that organization in the 
years gone by I believed then that God 
would hear and answer their prayers. 
I believe that same thing is true now in 
this moral reform. Some so-called re- 
forms I would not pray for, but this re- 
form, if I am to be the judge, is the 
greatest reform on hand for the Chris- 
tian Church right noW. I believe if we 
can get the Church of Jesus Christ to 
take the stand she should on this ques- 
tion and have the churches on the right 
side, that we would be doing more to 
advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ 
than in any other one thing that we can 
do. I think we ought to have united 
prayer. One man here and another yon- 
der will not bring the success that 
united prayer throughout will bring. 
Get the church behind the reform so 
that in a preaching service and in a 
prayer meeting and in God's house there 
shall be the same prayer for success as 
there was in the past on the liquor ques- 
tion. This is just an argument in favor 
of having the church behind the reform. 

The question is often asked, will we 
succeed? I say, why not? And I base 
my faith on the promise of God. "Ev- 
ery plant which my Father hath not 
planted shall be rooted out." I base my 
faith on the fact that every great reform 
has succeeded. If you had been in the 
prohibition fight in the years gone by in 
the state of Michigan, when everything 
was wet and only a few on the other 
side, you would have said : "In one 
hundred years we will have prohibition 
of the liquor traffic, maybe." 

Some moral reforms are different 
from others because there are qualities 
in it that God respects — qualities that 
are fundamental — and if Christianity is 
to prosper, this reform must be brought 
to a successful issue, and therefore God 
Almighty will be pleased to have us work 
and to help us. 

I think we ought to have faith enough 
in it to put our money into it. I am 



180 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



trying to find how willing some people 
are really to put that in, because how 
many good people, even when they are 
really good Christians, put but very lit- 
tle money into carrying on this work. If 
we would have it a success we must 
come forward with sufficient money to 
make it go. We all ought to get behind 
it. I am going to get right behind it 
as one minister of the Gospel, and I am 
going to keep on pushing this reform, 
and not only this reform, but also every 
moral reform that I feel is worth my 
attention, and I believe that God Al- 
mighty will help us all to do our part 
and carry us nearer and nearer to the 
goal of success. May the Lord bless you 
is my prayer. 



THE SPECKLED CHICKENS. 

Some one asked an old colored preach- 
er the other day how his church was get- 
ting on, and his answer was : "Mighty 
poor, mighty poor, brudder." 

On being asked what the trouble was 
he replied : 

"De cieties, de cieties. Dey is just 
drawin' all de fatness an' marrow outen 
de body an' bones ob de blessed Lord's 
body. We can't do nuffin widout de 
ciety. Dar is de Lincum Ciety, wid Sis- 
ter Jones and Brudder Brown to run it ; 
Sister Williams must march in front ob 
de Daughters ob Rebecca. Den dar is 
de Dorcases, de Marthas, de daughters 
of Ham, an' de Liberian Ladies." 

"Well, you have the brethren to help 
in the church," we suggested. 

"No, sah. Dere am de Masons, de 
Odd Fellows, de Sons ob Ham, an' Ok- 
lahoma Promise Land Pilgrims. Why, 
brudder, by de time de brudders an' sis- 
ters pays de dues an' tends all de meet- 
ing, dere is nuffin' left for Mount Pisgah 
Church, but jist de cob; de corn has all 
been shelled off an' f rowed to dese 
speckled chickens." 



BIBLE STATUS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The following facts relating to the 
present status of the Bible in the public 
schools were gathered by Rev. R. R. 
Marouis for a report to the Illinois 
Synod of the Presbyterian Church and 
published in a January issue of The 
Continent: 



"In four states not less than ten 
verses, and in New Jersey not less than 
five, are required at every session. A 
teacher is subject to dismissal for failure 
to comply in Tennessee. In three states, 
Georgia, North Dakota and Oklahoma, 
it is provided that Bible reading shall 
not be prohibited. In the first by the 
decision of the supreme court; in the 
others by legislative action. In six states 
laws have been passed permitting Bible 
reading. In Kentucky the same right has 
been granted by decision of the court of 
appeals, and in Nebraska the supreme 
court allows it to be read without com- 
ment and studied as literature. In Ohio 
and Virginia its use is left optional with 
the boards of education. 

"In four states the superintendent of 
schools has taken favorable action. In 
eight other states, while no law nor 
decision of public offiicial requires its 
use, public sentiment does so demand 
and it is generally read. In ten other 
states there is nothing to prevent Bible 
reading and in most of these states the 
custom is general. 

"Thus in forty of our states the Bible has 
the right of way. 

"Three states, Indiana, North Dakota, 
and Oregon give high school credits for 
Bible study, a syllabus having been 
prepared for this purpose by the state 
board. This is also done in Alabama 
and Colorado in many high schools, in 
Idaho by the State Normal and high 
schools, and in Delaware. In Virginia 
and Missouri plans are being worked out 
for state-wide credits and in Missouri 
for a course of Old Testament stories 
for primary work. In West Virginia 
the state department encourages giving 
such credits and requires examination 
On the Bible in its reading circle list for 
teachers, while the Iowa State Teachers' 
Association has recommended that the 
Bible be put in the schools as a text 
book. 

"Thus eleven states have lined up in 
favor of the Bible as a text-book for 
moral reform. 

"Columbia University has recently 
added a knowledge of the Bible to its 
entrance requirements." — Reprinted in 
The Christian Statesman. 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



181 



TESTIMONIES OF SECEDERS 



PRESIDENT a G. FINNEY, OBERLIN, OHIO 

Castor, Evangelist and 
a renouncing Mason 



" How can we fail to pronounce Freemasonry an antichristian institution ? Its morality ii 
unchristian. Its oath- bound secrecy is unchristian. The administration and taking or' its oaths 
are unchristian, and a violation of a positive command of Christ. Masonic oaths pledge ils mem- 
bers to commit most unlawful and unchristian deeds ; to conceal each other's crimes ; to deliver 
each other from difficulty whether right or wrong 5 to unduly favor Masonry in political actions and 

in business transactions; its members are sworn to retaliate, 
and persecute unto death the violators of Masonic obliga- 
tions. * * * Its oaths are profane, the taking of the 
name of God in vain. The penalties of these oaths are 
barbarous, and even savage. Its teachings are false and 
profane. Its design is partial and selfish. Its ceremonies 
are a mixture of puerility and profanity. Its religion is 
deistic. It is a false religion, and professes to save men upon 
other conditions than those revealed in the Gospel of Christ. 
It is a virtual conspiracy against both church and state. 
Those who adhere intelligently and determinedly to such an 
institution have no right to be in the Christian church. 
* * * If Freemasonry is a sin, a sham, an abomination, 
as I know it to be, and as you also know, then there is but 
one way open to us, or to any honest man who knows what 
Freemasonry is, and that way is to bear a most decided and 
persistent testimony against it, cost what it may. If any 
man will withhold his testimony against so great a wrong 
to save his influence he will sooner or later lose it." 




PRES. C. G. FINNEY 



%EV. m. L. HANEY 

Pastor of M. E. Church, Evan- 
gelist and a seceder from Masonry 

"I have seen the church prayer-meeting nearly desolate in 
every part of the country, because many of its members had 
their hearts divided with the lodge. I have demonstrated, in 
thirty years of evangelism, that it is well-nigh impossible to 
have a wide, deep, thorough revival of religion in any com- 
munity, town, or city which has been honey-combed by the 
influences of the lodge. In my seventy-ninth year, and before 
I depart to God, I felt I n, -st leave the above testimony." 




REV. M. L. HANEY 



COL. GEORGE R. CLARKE 

Founder of the ^Pacific Garden 
Mission and a renouncing Mason 

"I have been a member of several secret societies. I was a 32 Mason in Chicagu 
before the fire, I also belonged to the Blue Lodge and other intervening orders. In all those that 
I belonged to, the association was with the men of the world, without respect to their religion, 
whether they had any or had none at all. Such men as atheists, infidels, Mohammedans, Catho- 
lics % and Protestants can all unite together in these secret associations on an equality, in - bond 
which they call the 'bond of brotherhood. ' " 



182 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



STANDARD MASONIC AUTHORITY. 

The Secret of Masonry. 

An interesting discussion has been 
going on in the pages of The Builder, 
a "Journal for the Masonic Student," 
published monthly by the National 
Masonic Research Society at Anamosa, 
la., on the. question: "What is the real 
secret of Freemasonry? To what ex- 
tent is it possible to tell it to the pro- 
fane ?" 

Bro. Joseph Fort Newman starts 
out with the assertion that the only 
secret thing about Masonry is its 
method of teaching. With this state- 
ment some correspondents agree, where- 
as others more or less strongly dissent 
from it. Nearly all, however, admit 
that the real secret of Masonry is en- 
shrined in what is known as Masonic 
Symbolism, and more or less officially 
expounded by Pike, Mackey, and other 
leading Masonic writers. Some of the 
disputants evidently do not take much 
stock in this Symbolism, but the. more 
deeply initiated realize that the less that 
is made known to the "profane" pub- 
lic, the better it will be for Masonry. 
Thus Bro. F. W. Hamilton, Grand Sec- 
retary of Massachusetts, says that since 
the Masonic press is "to all intents and 
purposes open to the public eye," it 
"would do well to let the matter of pub- 
lic interpretation of Masonic Symbolism 
entirely alone." Bro. J. W. Eggleston, 
of Virginia, thinks that "monitors con- 
taining a part of our Symbolism are a 
mistake, and printed cipher rituals are 
a crime." Bro. S. H. Shepherd, of the 
Masonic Research Committee of Wis- 
consin advises "extreme caution in the 
discussion of the interpretation of the 
meaning of Masonic Symbolism by the 
Masonic press." Bro. H. R. Evans, of the 
District of Columbia, thinks that the 
Masonic press should have all the liberty 
it desires in interpreting Masonic Sym- 
bolism, "so long as it does not reveal the 
methods by which one brother knows 
another brother in the dark as well as 
the light — the esoteric part of the ritual." 

Bro. Evans, by the way, is one of the 
few contributors to this symposium (our 
quotations are taken from Vol. V, No. 8 
of The Builder) who seems to be aware 
of the Cabalistic and Rosicrucian origin 
of many Masonic symbols and doctrines. 



The reader will find much interesting 
information on this subject in our book, 
"A Study in American FremaSonry*' 
(St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co.; 3rd 
ed., 1914). This book, of course, em- 
bodies the views of a "profane" critic, 
but though it has been noticed in several 
Masonic journals, no Mason, so far as 
we are aware, has ever disputed the gen- 
uineness of its source materials. As to 
the correctness of the interpretations, 
high-degree Masons who have since come 
into the Catholic Church have assured us 
that, though not exhaustive, and perhaps 
slightly inaccurate in the one or other de- 
tail, our view of Masonry is in the main 
correct. If it is, then Masonry stands 
condemned before every orthodox Chris- 
tian believer, and we can understand 
why advanced and really well informed 
members of the craft do not wish to see 
the Masonic Symbolism revealed in the 
public press. — The Fortnightly Review 
(Catholic) September 15, 1919. 



THE AMERICAN LEGION. 

Draw four million men from every 
class and from every square mile of the 
United States ; pound them intensively 
into being as an army ; place upon all of 
them the ponderous but wholesome 
stamp of army discipline ; let some of 
them fight together, and all of them 
work together with a common purpose, 
for a year or so ; let them kick and cuss 
— in the manner of all true soldiers — 
at the civilian government which is mis- 
managing them ; then send those four 
million back into every class and into 
every square mile whence they came and 
organize them into a quasi-military-civil- 
ian association dedicated to work for 
the well-being of their country — and 
what will be the outcome? 

On the answer to this hangs the fu- 
ture of the newly formed American 
Legion. 

The Red Test Will Come. 

The daily press has given much space 
to the details of this new organization, 
and has emphasized its obviously excel- 
lent features of democracy and wide 
representation. General officers and en- 
listed men rub elbows in the same dis- 
trict delegations and on the same com- 
mittees, and those born to the purple 
of great American names will work 



'6161 ( J3qopO 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



183 



hand in hand with corporals unknown 
beyond their own country villages. So 
far so good; but the real test of the 
American Legion will come when it first 
attempts to make its influence felt in our 
national life. 

They are confronted by a great op- 
portunity, are these young American 
fighting "men who have come back filled 
with a new sense of responsibility for 
the welfare of their country: they have 
a great opportunity, and a still greater 
duty, in the leadership which is ready to 
their hands. They have four million 
war-toughened veterans to draw from— 
men whose unselfish work and sacrifice 
has bound them to their country in a 
degree that twenty years of fat-living, 
benefit-receiving home-citizenship alone 
could never have done. 

A Grave Danger. 
And now it is as well — even at the 
risk of seeming to howl calamity before 
the fact — to point out the grave danger 
inherent in any association of war vet- 
erans, and shown in the history of most 
war-veteran movements in this country. 
No matter with what lofty ideals of 
public service they may start, the un- 
scrupulous and the self-seeking soon ap- 
pear to gain control, and the organiza- 
tion degenerates into a more or less 
powerful and more or less unscrupulous 
political machine. Every editor, every 
candidate for office, and every politician 
knows and fears the deadly mawkish 
menace of "the old soldier vote" ; a men- 
ace the more sinister in that it deliber- 
ately and cynically over-capitalizes the 
patriotic gratitude of the public towards 
its ex-soldiers, and prostitutes that 
gratitude to base political uses. 

"But," say the leaders of the new 
movement, "no such situation can con- 
ceivably arise, for the American Legion 
is to be a non-political organization: 
We simply want to crystallize the spirit 
which made it possible to get into this 
war and fight it as we did, and we are 
not going to mix into politics." 

Of the good faith of these men there 
can be no question — they mean to keep 
out of politics, in the sense that they 
will not allow themselves to engage in 
political manipulation. Rut a vast as- 
sociation of soldiers embarked upon a 



non-military enterprise is, on its face at 
least, an anomaly. 

Must Be a Political Influence. 
Aside from its avowedly secondary 
fraternal functions, the Legion can 
have little or no excuse for permanent 
existence, inded it can not hope to serve 
the country according to the language of 
its constitution, unless it does really 
make its influence felt in the political 
and social life of the country. 

In this broader sense, the Legion will 
enter our political life, first, because they 
can't keep out, and second, because the 
country needs them there — needs the 
clean-thinking, all-American sanity of 
its citizen army. Let them go into poli- 
tics, but keep away from partisanship 
as well as from self-seeking. Their ac- 
tivity must be confined to the great 
issues of our national being, their ener- 
gies devoted to the preservation of the 
essentials of our national polity. The 
distinction between public activity based 
on these concepts of service and political 
meddling of the traditional kind is dif- 
ficult to define by the written phase, but 
readily recognizable as each issue arises. 
If America is in truth the melting- 
pot, then surely the apotheosis • of the 
melting-pot — the crucible from which 
must emerge the essence of to-morrow's 
Americanism — is the army of to-day. 
The American Legion is the peace-born 
offspring of our citizen army ; devoted 
to honest and unselfish national service 
it should accomplish much for the good 
of the country; suffered to become the 
medium of politicians and the football 
of parties, it had better never been or- 
ganized. — The Review, May 17, 1919. 

"With every day 

To wake and say. 

Thank God for work and light ! 



And when at last 
The day is past, 
Thank God for rest 



and night !" 



"If even- man did a kindness daily 

and refused to do an unkindness, half 
the sorrows of this world would disap- 
pear. "—Ian MacLaren. 



"A load of sorrow does not wear one 
so much as a swarm of annoyances." — 
C. O. Stevens. 



184 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



J^etosi of 0uv WBovk 

EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 
REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

This finds me at Grand Rapids, Mich- 
igan, the Jerusalem of the Christian Re- 
formed Church. Surrounding Calvin 
College, the largest educational institu- 
tion of this denomination, are some 
twenty churches of this faith. Not far 
distant, at Holland, Michigan, is Hope 
College, a school of the Prophets for the 
Reformed Church. Naturally, much 
anti-secrecy sentiment is found here. 

On September 14th I was given a 
hearing in three of the larger Christian 
Reformed churches of Grand Rapids. 
It was estimated that seventeen hundred 
people listened to these addresses. 
Brethren W. Stewart, William N. Trap 
and H. J. Kuiper, former directors of 
the National Christian Association, are 
pastors of churches in this city. Being 
thoroughly acquainted with our work 
they are glad to sustain and recommend 
it. Dominie Trap spoke of my coming 
as being opportune. At the morning 
service of the day that I spoke he had 
the sad duty of expelling a man who 
chose to "herd with Moose," rather 
than live as a Christian. Native com- 
mon sense naturally restrains the great- 
er part of this people from uniting with 
these lodges with animal names and evil 
propensities, yet some go astrav. Warn- 
ing is constantly needed. The Moose of 
this city advertise social dances for 
every Tuesday evening. 

Following last month's report I may 
mention that meetings were held in 
Wadsworth and Salem, Ohio, Men- 
nonite churches, also at what is known 
as the Chippewa Church of The Breth- 
ren, not far from Orrville, Ohio. The 
assistance of Brother A. W. Sommer 
made it possible to secure a large num- 
ber of Cynosure subscriptions. Meet- 
ings in progress at Weilersville made 
it possible to meet many who assisted 
in our former state convention in the 
"Paradise" Church of that place. Our 
subscription list at Smithville, Ohio, and 
vicinity was well maintained. Visits 
were made to Lima, Bluffton, Pandora 
and West Liberty, Ohio, in territory 
which lack of time compelled me to 



omit in my last year's visit. Rev. A. S. 
Shelly, a helper for many years, was 
holding a Bible instruction meeting in 
the church, to which he ministers at 
Bluffton. Your agent was glad to accept 
the invitation to participate in the dis- 
cussions. The college at this place was 
said to be in a flourishing condition. 
They stand with us on the lodge ques- 
tion. Addresses were delivered in coun- 
try Mennonite churches known as Zion 
and Ebenezer. Our former Ohio state 
president, Rev. Wm Gottschall, is pas- 
tor of the latter church. Brother Gott- 
schall is an active member of the com- 
mittee recently appointed by the Gen- 
eral Conference of his church to 
strengthen the position which they have 
taken excluding lodge members from 
their church fellowship. It was thought 
that pernicious influences were being ex- 
erted by lodge men at Pandora and that 
lectures were needed there. 

Returning to Washington, D. C, ar- 
rangement was made for removal to 
East Falls Church, Virginia, where wife 
and I expect to have our home during 
the winter with my son-in-law, Dr. A. 
C. Baker. Friends communicating with 
me can address Box 94, East Falls 
Church, Virginia. 

An invitation is given which I hope 
to accept to worship in the Friends 
Church at Bryantown, Maryland, Octo- 
ber 4th. Christian Reformed churches 
in Cleveland, Ohio, invite my service for 
September 28th. 

In Detroit, Michigan, I found crying 
needs in our line. This city has doubled 
its population in the last ten years and 
is much overcrowded. Arriving at 10:30 
in the night I found much difficulty in 
getting a place in a respectable hotel. 
Friends kindly provided for my need 
in that line later. Everywhere I travel 
there are kind hearts who, when I find 
them, gladly minister to my necessities. 
No lodge assistance is ever found neces- 
sary to meet a real need. While in De- 
troit I delivered five addresses to good 
sized audiences. The young people of 
the St. Paul and Gethsemane Lutheran 
churches listened with close attention 
and supported by generous collections. 
These churches belong to the Ohio and 
Missouri Lutheran Synods. There are 
more than forty churches of these 



October. 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



185 



synods in Detroit, their growth being 
very encouraging. Your representative 
was made the ''honored guest" and in- 
vited to address the joint meeting of the 
ministers of these synods. The main 
discussion of this conference was doc- 
trinal. The able paper on the subject 
of justification, prepared by Rev. Theo. 
H. Schroedel, was considered at length. 
The discussions were very interesting 
and animated. There appeared to be 
a difference of opinion as to- how far 
one might go in sin and still remain in 
a justified state. Some held that "sins 
of weakness" did not necessarily cut off 
communion with God, the case of David 
in his dealing with Uriah being cited by 
way of illustration. Others urged that 
David's sin cut off his justification, 
making restoration necessary if he w r as 
saved. That no one can remain in a 
justified state who rejects Jesus Christ 
as the Masons do is too manifest to 
need discussion ! 

My first address, given in Grand 
Rapids, was in the Wesleyan Methodist 
Church of which our old friend and 
staunch supporter, Rev. H. A. Day, was 
for many years pastor. They now have 
a beloved pastor in Rev. R. A. Sellman, 
an anti-secrecy man of great promise. 
Lectures are arranged for Lutheran, 
Free Methodist and Christian Reformed 
churches of this city, and also in Calvin 
College and the Theological Seminary. 
Time and strength is too limited to be- 
gin to meet the need. Why does not 
someone come forward to take up our 
work so much neded in Michigan? The 
right man would be well supported. 

A lecture for the First Christian Re- 
formed Church, in which the Second 
and Third churches of Kalamazoo are 
invited to participate, is arranged for 
September 24th. Lectures in Paterson, 
New Jersey, are under contemplation 
for the second week of October. My 
efforts for the coming month will, the 
Lord willing, be centered in New York. 

I was glad to greet again a former 
standard bearer of our association, Rev. 
J. J. Hiemenga. the new president of 
Calvin College. Those who know him 
best say he is "the right man in the right 
place." 

Rev. and Mrs. Tanis are more than 
kind in extending the hospitality of their 



home during my stay in Grand Rapids. 
Mr. Hugh Paine calls with his auto to 
convey me to his country residence, so 
let us move on ! 



A PROFITABLE EXPERIENCE. 
BY PAUL COLEMAN. 

Recently I was visited by a minister 
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
who was temporarily out of employment 
and had taken to selling books. He was 
not well acquainted with our denomina- 
tion, and I mentioned that we enforced 
the law forbidding members to belong 
to secret societies. The dialogue that 
followed was substantially as follows : 

Minister: "I belong to the Masons 
myself." 

Coleman : ''How a Christian minister 
can belong to the Masons, with their 
profane oaths, is more than I can under- 
stand." 

M. : "Well, I do not believe in them 
as a switch out of the church, but as a 
switch into the church." 

C. : "I do not see how you make 
Masonic religion a switch into the 
church." 

M. : "Have vou ever belonged to the 
Masons ?" 

C: "No." 

M. : "Then you do not know much 
about them." 

C. : "O, yes, I do. I have your oaths 
and ritual in a book out in the next 
room." 

M. : "There is no such book pub- 
lished!" 

C. : "But I have it." 

M. : "I should like to see it." 

So I brought him the book, opened it 
to the barbarous oaths of the third de- 
gree, and gave it to him to read. 

M. : "That's it verbatim. They told 
me in the lodge that the ritual was not 
in print and could not be purchased. Do 
you have the grips and symbols? Yes, 
here they are. Well, that beats me!" 

Then I told him about some of the 
good men who had left the lodge, and 
gave him some tracts. He was much 
interested and said he would be glad to 
read them, for this was all new to him. 

A well trained Christian who has 
studied exposures of the lodge knows 
more about it than most Masons ; for 



86 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



which we should be thankful. — Blanch- 
ard. Iowa. 



MY TESTIMONY. 

Reading the testimony of Herman, 
Xewmark brings to my memory the ex- 
perience of a prominent Doctor Warner 
of Medina County. Ohio. They -are 
not so much alike but this one is another 
proof that God leads His children out 
of secret societies. 

This doctor was a first-class surgeon 
and physician and served as such in the 
Civil War. He contracted tuberculosis. 
He was not a professor of Christianity 
and did not experience salvation until 
near the close of his life. He was a 
man universally respected and loved for 
his good principles and his kind heart. 
He had a brother. Thomas Warner, in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. This 
brother was not satisfied to see the 
doctor pass into Eternity without con- 
fessing Christ so he went to the doctor's 
home during his last days, especially to 
pray for him. He prayed earnestly and 
the doctor was gloriously saved. His 
wife told me that he exclaimed: "He 
has spoken peace to my soul. O, glory, 
glory!" Then he called his wife closer 
to him and said: "Mary. I have a re- 
quest to make ; promise me you will 
carry it out when I am gone. It is this : 
Do not let the Freemasons bury me. 
Do you understand and do you promise 
me?" She said: "I do." Previous to 
this she had thought the Freemasons 
all right. They came after the death of 
Dr. Warner and wanted the honor of 
burying him. Then she related to them 
his Christian experience and dying re- 
quest. This did not suffice. They still 
insisted on having a Masonic funeral. 
They said : "He has been a brother 
Mason for many years, and we will pay 
all funeral expenses." 

She said : "I cannot consent. I must 
respect my dear husband's dying re- 
quest." 

They remarked that when one is sick 
the mind is not always normal, etc. She 
finally told them that more need not be 
said. They could not bury her husband. 

Then they were offended and replied, 
"You need never expect any favors of 
us." She said: "Instead of contending 
with me about the dead body of my be- 



loved husband, it will be time enough 
for you to refuse me when I ask for 
favors." 

She told me that after that they 
scorned her and treated her coldly. These 
are facts known to me for we lived in 
the same neighborhood. Her daughter 
and I were schoolmates and chums in 
our girlhood days. 

Mrs. Ella Crooks. 



Airs. Viola Dicken writes to a friend 
that the Cynosure is a welcomed visitor 
and is read and passed to others. That 
some it has helped while, others it has 
agitated. Airs. Dicken sets us all a 
good example. The important thing is 
that we each sow the seed. Undoubtedly 
some will fall on stony ground but the 
encouraging thing- is that some also falls 
on good ground. "Some it has helped." 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT, 

REV. F. J. DAVIDSON. 

I praise God who hath always an- 
swered the prayers of the faithful. 
Since my last letter my health has not 
been the best but, thank God, it is no 
worse. I have preached and lectured 
at the Central, St. Mark's, Fourth, 
Israel, and .St. John Baptist churches of 
New Orleans, and have also spoken at 
the conference of the Louisiana Freed- 
men's Baptist Association. At the Pil- 
grim Baptist Church of Bayou Goula, 
Louisiana. I conducted an eight days' 
protracted meeting. I have also done 
some house-to-house missionary work. 

It is indeed strange how some pastors 
will privately admit the wickedness of 
secret societies but remain as dumb as 
a clam when requested to take a godly 
stand in defense of truth or when asked 
to condemn secret societies and boldly 
declare against them. 

We have begun work on our new 
church where the saints of God can 
worship in spirit and in truth, but we 
were compelled recently to suspend work 
on account of unfavorable weather. 
This church celebrated its first anniver- 
sary Sunday, August 31st. The weather 
was not at all favorable, thus greatly 
hindering our program. Nevertheless, 
God greatly blessed us and crowned 
our labors with abundant success, 



October, 1919- 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



187 



though we fell short of our hearts' 
desire and expectation financially. 

It seems like the more brutal the 
treatment of the Negroes in the South 
becomes the more rapid is the multipli- 
cation of secret societies. True democ- 
racy will never stretch out her wings 
in triumph until men joyfully recognize 
the rights of man as man. 

The rice, sugar cane and cotton fields 
of the South are ready to harvest but 
the scarcity of labor makes harvesting- 
very difficult. Politicians and prosperous 
farmers here will not use common horse 
sense and accord the Negroes their God 
given and anxiously desired equality of 
man to man and equal justice at the 
bar of public opinion. Let us continue 
to war against sin until our work is 
ended. 

I should like very much to hear per- 
sonally from Sister Lizzie Woods Rob- 
erson, as I am anxious to have her assist 
me in an eight or ten days' meeting in 
the new Central Baptist Church when 
it is sufficiently completed to worship in. 
We ask special prayers in our behalf. 



WORK IN MINNESOTA. 

BY REV. J. B. VAN DEN HOEK. 

The month of August gave me only 
one chance for a lecture. I was offered 
an auto ride to Brooten, Minnesota, one 
way. I never go on visits or vacations 
unless I can do something for the Lord's 
Kingdom. The distance from my home 
is nearly two hundred miles, though the 
way by railroad must be nearly 250 
miles, as connections are not very good. 

Seeing that I could possibly work up 
a meeting in this new settlement of our 
people for the cause of the Master, I 
concluded to take the auto ride and 
"do the work." 

The farmers were very busy, but they 
like to shake hands with their ministers 
at any time. The phone and the mail 
helped us to get the brethren together 
on a one day's notice. The meeting was 
held in the public hall of the city and 
the audience was very attentive. The 
faces of the people seemed to say, "We 
knew not that these dangers of the 
latter davs beset us!" The collection 
for the National Christian Association 
was $10.36 and a good brother added 
$1 more as a donation. 



What a beautiful country is this part 
of Minnesota with its chain of lakes 
and wood-covered hills ! 

The. small congregation of Hollanders, 
now consisting of a few families near 
Brooten, will, I believe, grow to fifty 
families by next spring. A new church 
will be built in the town and a minister 
has been called already to begin the 
work in true Dutch stvle. 



LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER. 

I am now at Detroit again where I 
expect to conduct a ten days' meeting. 
I arrived in this city on the 4th and 
shall leave on the 12th for Norfolk, 
Virginia. 

I went to Vian, Oklahoma on the 7th 
of August where we held good old 
Southern tent meetings. The tent and 
the grounds around the tent were 
crowded with people eager to hear the 
Gospel. There were rich and poor, 
white and colored people in the audience 
and each did his part to help financially 
in conducting these* meetings. They were 
anxious to hear the real Word of God 
preached in its purity. What the North 
and South needs is a pure and holy 
ministry. God wants men who are holy 
to preach the Gospel and He warns 
those who are lodge members to get out 
of the devil's trap. I told a preacher 
at Vian, Oklahoma, if God could get 
some preachers like Paul to send out a 
Titus to set things in order there would 
be a great awakening. In Titus 1 7-9 
we read how they that are chosen to 
be ministers ought to be qualified. In- 
stead of teaching a victorious separated 
life some ministers of today are fighting 
holiness. 

One preacher said to me, "Sister Rob- 
erson, why is it that this holiness 
doctrine has just sprung up within the 
past twenty years?'' I said, "Brother, 
in Ephesians 1 14-6 it says God had it in 
the plan before the foundation of the 
world 'that we should be holy and with- 
out blame before Him in love.' " When 
he said, "Our old mother who is dead 
did not know anything about it." I said 
to him, "Your mother walked in all the 
light she had, but before God made the 
dust of my old body, yes, even before 
He made the dust of your parents and 
my parents, God predestined that man 



188 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



should be holy. God is calling us to 
holiness today (i Thes. 4:7), and has 
said in Hebrews 14:12 'follow peace 
with all men and holiness, without which 
no man shall see the Lord.' ' : This 
preacher then said, "Well, look how the 
people all over the country are rioting 
and fighting today. Will holiness ever 
stop that?" "Yes," I said, "the white 
people and the black people and all other 
races, too, who are living holy lives and 
with the peace of God in their hearts 
are not to be found participating in these 
riots. Nor will you find them in the 
lodge, the Night Riders, the Klu Klux 
Klan or any other deviltry that is going 
on nowadays." 

"Well, then what does God require of 
man?" was his next question. I an- 
swered, "I shall answer you from the 
Bible for it is the Word of God and is 
just and true. In Micah 6:8 we read, 
'He hath showed thee, O man, what is 
good: and what doth the Lord require 
of thee but to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
God.' And in Deuteronomy 10:12 we 
notice 'And now, Israel, what doth the 
Lord require of thee, but fear the Lord 
thy God, to walk in His ways, and to 
love Him, and to serve the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart and with all thy 
soul.' In Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 it is 
written, 'Let us hear the conclusion of 
the whole matter : Fear God, and keep 
His commandments, for this is the whole 
duty of man. For God shall bring every 
work into judgment, with every secret 
thing, whether it be good, or whether it 
be evil.' ' He said, "I have about given 
up hope for the churches. They allow 
their members to take part in riots and 
lynching and all sorts of other sins." 
Yes, that is what the churches are doing 
and the trouble is we have too many 
like that. They may be called churches 
but there is but one true church and 
that is the church which is in God the 
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 
Thes. 1:1). In 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 
Paul has written to the Church of God 
and to the members in God's church who 
are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called 
to be saints. You'll not find people who 
are members of this church, whether 
they be white or black, taking part in 
riots or lynchings or lodge worship. If 



all ministers would stand up for God 
and for" the teaching of God's Word 
every member of the secret lodge system 
and all other sinners would be excluded 
from the church, for our God has no 
such members in His church of which 
Christ is the head, and the Church the 
body. 

When I do personal work I take my 
Bible with me and prove to the people 
that they do not know God unless they 
have been redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus Christ. "He that saith, I know 
him, and keepeth not his commandments, 
is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 
(1 John 2:4). Many of the church 
members of today are not holy, for 
they hate each other. "He that saith he 
is in the light and hateth his brother is 
in darkness even until now." I told my 
people at Vian, Oklahoma, and the white 
people who had gathered also that unless 
the ministers get out of these secret 
orders and the sin business, there is no 
need of their preaching to the people. 
They cannot call on Him when needed 
in whom they have no faith. They have 
not heard the Word in its purity. We 
read in Romans 10:13-15 "For whoso- 
ever shall call on the name of the Lord 
shall be saved." How, then, shall they 
call on Him in whom they have not be- 
lieved? How shall they believe in Him 
of whom they have not heard? and 
how shall they hear without a preacher? 
and how ■ shall they preach except they 
be sent, as it is written, "How beautiful 
are the feet of them that preach the 
Gospel of Peace, and bring glad tidings 
of good things." 

We have not many preachers that 
"are sent." Christ is the head of this 
Church and in John 18:20 Jesus said, 
"In secret have I said nothing," and in 
Mathew 28:18-20 Jesus appeared to the 
disciples and said, "All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye 
therefore and teach all nations, baptiz- 
ing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 
Teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you ; and 
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world." Now the lodge 
preacher won't do, he is so tied up with 
the world that he is afraid to speak 
against the things that are damning this 



October, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



189 



country. I read the awful penalties in 
Freemasonry that preachers must take 
when becoming Masons. How can such 
men preach a whole Gospel? 

One man said, "Sister Roberson, I 
used to be the secretary of a Masonic 
lodge, and you have certainly got the 
goods. All you have said is true." I 
chanced to speak to a white minister 
recently and we were talking of the 
riots, and lynchings, and burning at the 
stake, and how awful it all is. I said to 
him, "If you and other ministers would 
preach the Gospel and condemn this sin 
among your people, and if our colored 
preacher would do the same I believe 
that would break the evil. Let the, 
people know that they cannot serve God 
and do such things, and if they persist 
upon warning, exclude them from the 
church." He said, "If I preached such 
a Gospel I would lose my head. The 
black man will have to fight, and he is a 
fool if he doesn't." I said to him, "Don't 
tell anybody else such rot as that. God 
will call you into judgment for your 
preaching." He then said, "All men 
ought to bind themselves together to 
protect each other," and I answered, 
"That is exactly what the lodge is teach- 
ing." After this preacher had walked 
away I said to myself, "He is in some 
secret work of the devil." I do not know 
to what denomination he belonged, nor 
who he was, but I do know that no holy 
man would teach men to kill each other. 
God help my people to pray "that we 
may lead a quiet and peaceable life in 
all Godliness and honesty." ( I Tim. 
2 :2.) 

The church carnival in Omaha, about 
which I wrote in my last letter, ended 
fatally. While many souls were saved 
at our tent meetings, two men were 
killed at the church carnival and cast 
into eternity without a moment's notice. 
I trust this will be the last church car- 
nival for Omaha. 

Yours for the service of the Lord, 
Lizzie Roberson. 



Ephraim P. Yoder of West Liberty, 
Ohio, writes to our Eastern Secretary 
Stoddard : "The Cynosure is very 
welcome in our home and I enjoy read- 
ing it and try to make use of its sug- 



SOME REASONS WHY I AM OP- 
POSED TO SECRET SOCIETIES. 

A. M. OVERHOLT, WADSWORTH, OHIO. 

When a boy at school along with the 
other boys we sometimes indulged in the 
habit of "swapping" (trading) knives. 
However, we seldom practiced this, 
unless we had an old "Barlow" that was 
almost entirely worthless. This accounts 
for the cowardly method; we called it 
"swapping sight unseen." I will tell the 
reader how we did it. We would take 
the knife in one hand and close it, and 
at the same time reach for the other 
one's knife. So you see the knife was 
entirely hidden until it dropped into your 
hand. 

The reader will remember the head- 
lines to this article : "Some Reasons 
Why I Am Opposed to Secret Societies." 
There are organizations permeating 
society all over this land that I am 
thinking about. These are known by 
various names, such as fraternities, 
orders, lodges, oath-bound societies. The 
words "oath-bound" are usually objected 
to. But it cannot be successfully denied 
that some of them are oath-bound. 

First of all I am opposed to these 
organizations because they are both un- 
American and un-Christian in principle. 
They are un-American because they 
deny the right of investigation. This is 
at least partially true of all of them. 
They are like the swapping of knives 
with Johnny — the secret society goods 
are hidden until after they are delivered. 
The true American way is to proclaim 
the facts in the public hall, the church, 
and in the school house. The lodge way 
is to go to an upper room, with dark 
windows facing the streets, a Tyler at 
the rear door to keep cowans and eaves- 
droppers out. Christianity says : "In- 
vestigate my claims, examine the evi- 
dence, and when you are convinced of 
the truth, the,n go into all the world and 
preach it, tell it everywhere." The 
Great Founder of Christianity has said; 
"In secret have I said nothing." The 
lodge says: "Tell it only to those that 
have the mark (password or sign)." _ 

Again, I am opposed to these societies 
because they are constantly pretending 
to be that which they are not, thereby 
deceiving the careless and those that 
love show more than investigation. 



190 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



October, 1919. 



For example, take Odd-Fellowship. 
One of the great things it puts on ex- 
hibition is its three links. These are 
to represent the three cardinal virtues 
in Odd-Fellowship: Friendship, Love 
and Truth. This is to reach around the 
world. Then in glowing terms it holds 
forth the "Fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man." Of course the 
Son is left out. I presume as being too 
sectarian for Odd-Fellowship. Then it 
proceeds to tell who is to have a share 
in this wonderful friendship. I here 
quote from Farrar : "A free male white 
citizen, 21 years of age and sound." 
First of all the person must not be a 
slave. Then he must be a man, and not 
a woman ; then he must be white, and 
last must be of age and sound. Mothers, 
children, boys in their teens and cripples 
need no friendship according to Odd- 
Fellowship. 

And again, if we offer unimpeachable 
testimony from those that have left the 
lodge for conscience sake as to its relig- 
ious teachings, we are told that "books 
are cheap." I shall not comment on that 
for fear I might say something unkind. 
But if we are not to believe books, may 
we believe what we have seen in the 
years that are past? 

The writer was present at the burial 
of an Odd-Fellow with whom he was 
well acquainted. He had been a very 
profane man, ridiculed the church and 
the Christian religion ; and it came to 
pass that he died. Around his dead body 
were standing Odd-Fellow friends and 
citizens promiscuously whilst the officiat- 
ing clergyman read from their ritual nice 
words, but cold and formal enough to 
freeze under a midsummer sun. He 
pronounced a eulogy upon the life of 
the departed, together with the promise 
of a glorious prospect of meeting the 
brother in the "grand lodge above." 



THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS. 

The following was received recently 
from a friend in the South: 

"Gentlemen and Brethren : I call you 
Brethren because I see you are engaged 
in a work in which I have given the 
greater and better part of my life, hav- 
ing been in the ministry and the constant 
pastoral care of churches for thirty-five 



years. I am a minister of the Primitive 
Baptist faith. 

"As a denomination we have endeav- 
ored to keep our church pure and free 
from the taint of secret worldly institu- 
tions ever since 1832. We are the only 
religious institution in the South com- 
mitted to this policy. For it we have 
been maligned and persecuted. 

"Recently Freemasonry has gained 
such a foothold as to threaten the peace 
of our churches, and we are face to face 
with the fact that we must recede from 
our former position or meet the issue 
squarely and fight it out to a finish. This 
I am preparing to do. We have a de- 
nominational paper published at Cordele 
in this state, and with its consent I am 
preparing a series of articles for its col- 
umns. 

"I shall throw my whole heart and 
soul into this work without regard to 
pecuniary benefit to me or any party on 
earth, but God knows that my sole pur- 
pose is for the safety and peace of my 
own church first and afterwards to the 
uplift of the Christian religion every- 
where as well as to defend the principles 
of our civil government, without which 
everything is in jeopardy and danger." 



The following resolution adopted by 
the Wesleyan Methodist Conference is 
a word in season and one greatly ap- 
preciated, especially as the Christian 
Cynosure has been refused by the Pos- 
tal Authorities the rate of postage 
granted Christian papers and magazines : 

"We the members of the Kansas An- 
nual Conference of the Wesleyan Meth- 
odist Connection of America assembled 
at Miltonvale, Kansas, this thirtieth day 
of August, 1919, desire to express our 
confidence in the Christian character of 
the Christian Cynosure, the official 
organ of the National Christian Asso- 
ciation of America, and to commend it 
for its bold advocacy of the Bible as 
the Word of God and the atonement of 
Jesus Christ as the only way of salva- 
tion, and for the warning it continues 
to give of the hostile principles of secret 
societies to the teachings of the Bible 
and towards our Lord Jesus Christ." 



October. 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



191 



Testimonies of Theologians and Philosophers 



PROF. R. F. WEIDNER, D. D., LL. D. 

President of the Chicago Luth- 
eran Theological Seminary 

" Secret societies are antichristian in their character, a dangerous foe to the family, the state, 
and the church, and I cannot see how any true Christian can either join them, or, if he has been 
beguiled into entering them, how it is possible for him, with a clean heart, to remain in them. 
See II. Cor. 6: 14, 15." 

REV. JAMES M. GRAY, T>. T>. 

From an address in 1892, when Rector First 
Reformed Episcopal church, Boston, Mass. 
Now 'Dean of cMoody ^ible Institute 

•'Freemasonry is contrary to the word of God. It is 
dishonoring to Jesus Christ. It is hurtful to the highest 
interests of the soul. It has the stamp of the Dragon upon 
it. 'Come out from among them and be ye separate.' 
—II. Cor. 6: 17. 

<DR. HERRICK JOHNSON 




DR. JAMES M. GRAY 



McCormick Theological 
Seminary, Chicago 



"Some of the best men I ever knew belonged to some of the older orders of secrecy — just why 
I never knew. My principal objection to Masonry is that it is Christlessly religious and it narrows 
its beneficences to the few while the gospel is for all the world." 

JAMES m f COSH, D. D., LL. D. 

President of Princeton, in his food, "Psy- 
chology; the Motive lowers," page 214 

"I have noticed that those who have been trained in 
secret societies, collegiate or political, and in trades unions, 
like priests, Jesuits, thugs and Molly Maguires, have their 
sense of right and wrong so perverted that in the interests 
of the body with which they have identified themselves they 
will commit the most autrocious crimes, not only without 
compunction, but with an approving heart and with the 
plaudits of their associates. ' ' 



REV. JAMES B. WALKER, D. D. 

Author of "Philosophy of 
the Plan of Salvation' f 




DR. JAMES McCOSH 



"There is probably not one in a thousand who enter the lodge, who know, when blindfolded 
they take the terrible oaths, that Masonry is an antichrist and one of the most powerful enemies 
of Christ that exists. But this is put beyond the possibility of a doubt by the highest Masonic 
authorities. * * 

PROF. S. C. BARTLETT, D. D. 

Chicago Theolog- 
ical Seminary 

"There are certain other wide-spread organizations, such as Freemasonry, which, we suppose, 
are in their nature hostile to good citizenship and true religion, because they exact initiatory oaths 
of blind compliance and concealment, incompatible with the claims of equal justice toward man and 
\ good conscience toward God. ' • 



STANDARD WORKS 

ON ~ 

Secret Societies 

FOR SALE BY THE 

National Christian Association, 

WOODMEN OF THE WORLD 

By BENJAMIN M. HOLT 

The author, Mr. B. M. Holt, was for many years a lodge member. He resigned his lodge- 
connection in all due form on account of scruples of conscience; he was not dropped on account 
of delinquency, but voluntarily resigned and received his regular "letter of dimission." 

The present treatise, which concerns itself with the Woodmen of the World in particular, 
•hows almost exclusively from quotations of prominent Woodmen, official publications, supply 
houses, and others, what the Woodmen teach and do, and points out wherein their teachings and 
practises disagree with Christian principles. The little booklet is sure to be of inestimable value 
in the hands of pastors and others that have occasion to warn a Christian brother against 
Joining a lodge, and should be available also in persuading those who have already taken thi» 
step, to leave the lodge. 

The little paper-covered book comprises 72 pages, size 5x7%. It contains four Illustrations of 
secret society paraphernalia. The list price is 25 cents, postpaid. 

Address NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 850 W. Madison St., Chicago 



Knights of Columbus 

ILLUSTRATED 

A COMPLETE RITUAL AND HISTORY OF THE FIRST 
THREE DEGREES, INCLUDING ALL SECRET 
"WORK", FULLY ILLUSTRATED BY A FORMER 
MEMBER OF THE ORDER. 

This work gives the proper position of each officer during the 
meetings, the proper manner of conducting the business of 
the Knights of Columbus, order of opening and closing 
of the Lodge, dress of candidates, ceremony of initiation; giving 
the signs, grips, pass words, etc. Convenient pocket size. 

Paper Covers - - - $ .75 
Cloth - 1.00 

National Christian Association 

850 W. Madison Street CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 





TOMORROW. 

There are wonderful things we are going to do 

Some other day; 
And harbors we hope to drift into 

Some other day. 
With folded hands and oars that trail, 
We watch and wait for a favoring gale 
To fill the folds of an idle sail 

Some other day. 

We know we must toil, if ever we win, 

Some other day; 
But we say to ourselves, There's time to begin 

Some other day; 
And so, deferring, we loiter on, 
Until at last we find withdrawn 
The strength of the hope we leaned upon, 

Some other day. 

— Selected. 




OFFICIAL ORGAN* NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJXOCIATION 
10 CENTJ* A COPY ESTABLISHED I8£>& WO A YEAR 



Wheaton CoWe 



I ihrarw 



VOL. LIL NO. 7. 



CHICAGO 



NOVEMBER, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 
850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE — Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
dt the Po^t Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
Maria 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



Tomorrow (poem) Cover 

Our Thank-Offering (poem) 195 

Convictions • 195 

House Passes Bill Forbidding Police in 

Unions — Chicago Tribune 195 

The Cynosure's Editor, by Herman A. 

Fischer, Jr 196 

A Worthy Workman, by Rev. T. C. 

McKnight 197 

Come Out and Be Separate, by President 

C. A. Blanchard 198 

From Labor to Refreshment — Masonic 

poem 200 

Speak a Cheerful Word 201 

Vital Godliness and the Lodge, by Bishop 

David S. Warner 201 

Sold Fake Masonic Degrees — Evening 

Post 203 

Is the Lutheran Church Alone in Its Op- 
position to the Lodge? by B. M. Holt.. 204 

Free Methodists on Secret Societies 207 

The Order of the Pink Goats 208 

Plain Words from a Mason — Lutheran 

Standard 208 

Indian Masonry — Quarterly Bulletin (Ma- 
sonic) 209 



A Degree Factory — Quarterly Bulletin 

(Masonic) 210 

Shriner's Celebration 210 

The American Legion, Inc 211 

Warning to the Legion — The Literary 

Digest 212 

Most Worshipful Master 213 

The Lodge : Weighed and Found Want- 
ing .214 

News of Our Work : 

Items from Secretary Phillips 216 

Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W. B. 

Stoddard 217 

How a Minister Got Fooled, by Rev. 

J. B. Van den Hoek 219 

"Lizzie Woods' Letter," by Mrs. L. W. 

Roberson 220 

Southern Agents' Report, by Rev. F. J. 

Davidson 222 

Word from New York 222 

Testimonies of Pastors. 223 

A Perpetual Monument 224 



NATIONAL 



CHRISTIAN 
TION. 



ASSOCIA- 



GENERAL OFFICERS. 
President, Rev. John F. Heemstra ; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 

LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, Box 94, East 
Falls Church, Virginia 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 
South Dakota. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St.. 
New Orleans, Ls. 

Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 
St., Argenta, Ark. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 





There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 

— Acts 4:12 


CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 


Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have I 
said nothing. 
— John 18:20 





OUR THANK-OFFERING. 

For God's kindness, so loving and ten- 
der, 
For His goodness, so great and so 
free ; 
For His benefits — what shall we render, 
What thanksgiving return shall ours 
be? 

What acceptable praise can we proffer, 
For His manifold gifts and His care? 

What true tribute most fittingly offer, 
What incense, save glad, grateful 
prayer ? 

Ah ! our souls shall make boast of His 
blessing, 
And shall joyfully utter His praise ; 
In our worship and words Him confess- 
ing 
As the sweetness and strength of our 
days. 

We will strive the more fully to measure 
The beloved's desire toward His own ; 
To recount the Lord's love and good 
pleasure 
In His thoughts unto usward made 
known ; 
And our hearts shall make melody to 
Him; 
For the fruit of the lips He'll create ; 
We will sing of "sure mercies'' found 
through Him, 
And a love that will never forsake. 



First Loafer — I 'ear all the men 'ave 
gone on strike? 

Second Loafer — Wot 'ave they struck 
for? 

First Loafer — Shorter hours. 

Second Loafer — I always said as 'ow 
sixty minutes was too long for an hour. 
— Westminster Gazette. 



CONVICTIONS. 

A man who is of value to society and 
the Church is a man who has positive 
convictions in the matter of truth. He 
cannot be led into evil with wealth, ease 
or popularity. He is a man not of policy 
but conviction. The Lodge offers favors, 
ease and money, as well as foolishness, 
fun and benefits. A man of truth has no 
time for their offers. 

The conviction that the Lodge is 
wrong in its principles should be so root- 
ed and grounded in the heart of the be- 
liever that when the strongest arguments 
are presented he shall not be moved. 
When once settled by the immutable 
Word of God, let not human wisdom 
persuade us to listen to false liberalism 
on the one hand and religious bigotry on 
the other. 



HOUSE PASSES BILL FORBIDDING 
POLICE IN UNIONS, 

Washington, D. C, Oct. 13. — [Spe- 
cial.] — The house to-day by an over- 
whelming vote went on record against 
policemen joining labor organizations, 
striking and leaving the American peo- 
ple and their property at the mercy of 
the criminal element. After a bitter de- 
nunciation of the recent policemen's 
strike in Boston and efforts to organize 
the police elsewhere, the house by a vote 
of 222 to 8 approved the bill granting in- 
creased pay to policemen of the District 
of Columbia, but added a proviso that 
any men of the force who join labor 
unions or other similar organization 
shall be dismissed immediately. — Chi- 
cago Tribune, Oct. 13, 1919. 



We will not tolerate our members 
uniting with the Masonic or other in- 
fidel societies. — Augustana Lutheran 
Synod. 



196 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 




WILLIAM J. PHILLIPS. 

THE CYNOSURE'S EDITOR. 

Those who have chanced to read the 
inside of the first page of a recent issue 
of the Cynosure, may have noticed the 
name of Managing Editor, William I. 
Phillips. If the cover were overlooked 
it would, we think, be possible to read 
every word in most issues without even 
seeing the Editor's name. The absence 
of Mr. Phillips in special work for the 
Association in Ohio and New York 
states affords an opportunity to those of 
the Cynosure family who have not the 
privelege of personal acquaintance. 

William Irving Phillips was born in 
Xew York state, but spent his boyhood 
within ten miles of Wheaton, Illinois, 
where he now makes his home. In 1862, 
although only fourteen years old, he en- 
listed in the Union Army and served un- 
til discharged at the close of the Civil 
War. He graduated from Wheaton 
College with the class of 1873. 

Even in his school days he was strongly 
impressed with the danger to Church 
and State from the growth of secret 
oath-bound orders. In the summer of 
1871 he went out with a schoolmate as 



the first colporteurs of the National 
Christian Association. 

He planned to devote his life to the 
ministry, and after two years' study at 
the Chicago Theological Seminary (Con- 
gregational), he served pastorates— Col- 
lege Springs, Iowa, and Lindenwood, 
Illinois. However, in 1880 he was called 
to Chicago to assume the responsibilities 
of Treasurer of the National Christian 
Association; and he is now completing 
the thirty-ninth consecutive year of serv- 
ice in that office. During these years the 
work of the Association has always been 
his chief interest. For several years he 
has been the Secretary of the Associa- 
tion. He has had charge of the publica- 
tion, sale and distribution of its litera^ 
ture and. has also frequently served as 
Editor of the Cynosure. Before the 
Cynosure was published as a monthly 
he edited a weekly called "The Lodge 
Lamp." 

As the agent of the Association, Mr. 
Phillips has traveled the country over. 
He has always been ready to go from 
house to house with tracts if that seemed 
best for the Cause ; and has met rebuffs 
and hardships with a cheery humor. But 
while he has always kept in intimate 
touch with every branch of the Associa- 
tion, his greatest work has been as an ex- 
ecutive — not in the modern sense, a mere 
director of the activities of others, but 
one who has made plans and executed 
them. Few are the national, state and 
local conventions held by the Associa- 
tion in the middle west in the last forty 
years, which have not, in large measure, 
been the result of his carefully laid plans 
and thorough preparation ; yet he has 
always sought an inconspicuous place in 
the proceedings, and his name has sel- 
dom appeared on the lists of speakers. 

As Treasurer he has had considerable 
responsibilities. Perhaps the most strik- 
ing example of the problems which have 
confronted him along this line was the 
responsibility of directing the attorneys 
who represented the Association in a 
Will contest in Nebraska. Three times 
it reached the Nebraska Supreme Court, 
and each time it was returned to the lo- 
cal courts. Finally Mr. Phillips thought 
it expedient to terminate the litigation by 
taking advantage of an offer of settle- 
ment. When this was concluded, he dis- 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



197 



covered that the Nebraska land in the es- 
tate had increased so in value that, in- 
stead of being squandered in litigation, 
the interest of the Association was worth 
more, even after deducting all legal ex- 
penses, than it had been when the ad- 
verse parties started their contest. But 
these larger problems have never di- 
verted the Treasurer's attention from 
the smallest of the office. His books and 
records have always been complete and 
accurate. During his entire service it 
would be hard to find a duty forgotten, 
and seldom indeed has there been any 
loss in the property or invested funds of 
the Association. 

Those who have known Mr. Phillips 
on the Board of Directors, or have talked 
with him of his work, are greatly im- 
pressed with his devotion to the Cause. 
It was never an easy task, never attract- 
ive from a worldly standpoint. He chose 
it because he wished to serve in a great 
Cause. That has always been his chief 
motive. 

Herman A. Fischer, Jr. 



A WORTHY WORKMAN. 

"If you have a friend worth loving, 
Love him, yes, and let him know 

That you love him 'ere life's evening 
Tinge his brow with sunset glow. 

Why should good words ne'er be said 

Of a friend till he is dead? 

"If your work is made more easy 

By a friendly helping hand, 
Say so, speak out brave and truly, 

'Ere the Darkness veil the land. 
Should a brother workman dear 
Falter for a word of cheer?" 

Certainly "good words" should be 
spoken of our friends while we have 
them with us in this life. Surely a 
''brother workman" should be encour- 
aged frequently with a "word of good 
cheer." I take pleasure in writing a 
word of appreciation of our Editor and 
leader in the work of the National Chris- 
tian Association. 

No one could be associated with Mr. 
Phillips, as I have been privileged in the 
past seven years on the Board of Direct- 
ors, without having a growing apprecia- 
tion of him as notably a genuine Chris- 
tian character. "As a man thinketh in 
his heart so is he." This good man has a 



firm belief in Christ. He loves the Master 
as his Savior and Lord. His belief in 
Christ is not a mere intellectual process. 
It is a matter of the heart and of the life. 
His love finds its highest expression in 
obedience to the heavenly visions of 
God's revealed will. He is a doer of the 
Word and not a hearer only. Through 
his intimate fellowship with the Father 
through the Beloved Son, he has im- 
bibed the Master's spirit to a goodly de- 
gree. 

"He that ruleth his spirit is better than 
he that taketh a city." Mr. Phillips has 
developed a wonderful self-control. No 
matter how many troublesome things 
come up he never seems to be troubled 
or agitated about them. This one 
achievement, through Him who always 
ruled His spirit, makes him an invaluable 
worker in our Cause. 

It is by no means an easy task to be 
the Secretary of the N. C. A. and Editor 
of the Cynosure. The man who fills this 
position travels a rough road. He must 
deny himself greatly. He verily takes up 
a cross daily. To stand firm against se- 
cret societies in all their organized 
strength requires a man of deep convic- 
tions. But while the faithful witness 
must contend against the errors of the 
so-called fraternal orders, yet as the ser- 
vant • of the Lord he "must not strive ; 
but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, 
patient, in meekness instructing those 
that oppose themselves; if God perad- 
venture will give them repentance to the 
acknowledging of the truth ; and that 
they may recover themselves out of the 
snare of the devil, who are taken captive 
by him at his will." The Association is 
blessed by having such a man as Mr. 
Phillips. He knows how to oppose the 
errors of secrecy with the light of truth, 
which is the Word of God. He knows 
how to lead people out of the lodge. It 
is verily surprising how many people find 
their way up to the office to talk these 
things over with him ; and upon being 
shown the superior claims of Christ 
upon the entire life are led to sever all 
connections with secret societies, 

Time and space fail to tell of his tal- 
ents along the various lines of his activi- 
ties as Editor, lawyer, financier, and gen- 
eral manager of the Association's busi- 
ness. 



198 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



May he live long and continue, "stead- 
fast, immovable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord," knowing that his 
"labour is not in vain in the Lord." 

Rev. Thomas C. McKnight. 



COME OUT AND BE SEPARATE, 

BY PRESIDENT CHARLES A. BLANCHARD, 

WHEATON COLLEGE, WHEATON, 

ILLINOIS. 

Our readers are familiar with the fact 
that Christian men are continually aban- 
doning secret lodges into which they have 
been betrayed. The testimony of these 
men is always of special interest to those 
of us who are opposed to lodges and 
those who are contemplating relation 
with them. It is therefore a great pleas- 
use to welcome from time to time men 
who, having experienced the lodges, find 
it duty to abandon them. 

A friend sent to me last w T eek a clip- 
pling from the Christian Evangelist 
which contains an item on the soul life 
of one of these brothers. It is a pleas- 
ure to share it with the readers of the 
Cynosure. 

The article begins as follows : 

"During his pastorate he has preached 1,140 

sermons in ; delivered 524 sermons 

and addresses elsewhere ; conducted 557 fu- 
nerals ; solemnized 603 marriages; and re- 
ceived into the church (more than two-thirds 
by baptism) 1672 people. He has raised for 
all purposes in the church $125,460.25, of 
which sum $35,803.85 has been for missions. 

"Brother has published during 

this period volumes on "The Inner Circle," 
"The Wisdom of God's Fools," "Ornamented 
Orthodoxy," "Fairhope, the Annals of the 
Country Church," and "The Tender Pil- 
grims." Besides these books he has published 
many sermons, numerous short articles and 
quite a few short stories. 

"There is no doubt but that Brother 

is the leading preacher of Central 

Illinois. He is an orator of rare ability, has 
a poetic insight into life's great problems and 
has the soul of a mystic. He is popular with 
the men of the community and has been in 
great demand through the years as a speaker 
on fraternal, educational, patriotic and relig- 
ious occasions of every kind," 



A Personal Appreciation. 

The article goes on to give his per- 
sonal creed and to state his attitude to- 
ward secret societes. Following this an 
extended quotation is given from his let- 
ter to the church. This is so important 
that I give it entire. It will well repay 
reading. 

"At the beginning of my fourteenth year as 
the pastor of the First Christian Church, I 
have found it necessary to make certain dras- 
tic changes in my personal program. In order 
to fulfill my ministry I have decided to with- 
draw from every organization to which I be- 
long, except the Church of the Living God. 
This week I shall forward my resignation to 
seven societies and fraternities with an ex- 
planation of my course. 

"I have reached this conclusion after 
months of reflection and by way of consider- 
able struggle. The fellowship in the fraterni- 
ties and other societies has been pleasant and 
profitable. The very fact that I have been 
unable to render service to these organiza- 
tions in keeping with the courtesies they have 
shown me, has contributed to my decision to 
cease active membership in circles where act- 
ive participation is difficult, if not impossible. 

"In withdrawing from these various organ- 
izations I am not expecting to become a her- 
mit or recluse — far from it. On the contrary, 
I hope to render a more worthful and definite 
service to the entire community as well as to 
impart a keener edge to my ministry of the 
Word. In these tremulous times the world 
hungers for spiritual food, but it is uncertain 
where to find that food. The church is the 
one organization which exists solely to pro- 
claim that unfailing source where spiritual 
hunger can fully be satisfied. But the average 
church member is so exhausted by manifold 
and exacting demands as to enfeeble any def- 
inite Christian witnessing. It is difficult for a 
minister to urge his people to simplify their 
lives unless he makes some effort to sim- 
plify his own. This is what I am seeking 
to do, though I am not intimating that other 
ministers should do likewise. Others may 
find a different way out of a similar perplex- 
ity, though I doubt if they find a better way. 

"At this vibrant hour, the church occupies 
a unique place. It is the one body inherently 
constituted as a medium of reconciliation be- 
tween hostile and warring classes upon the 
basis of justice and brotherhood. That the 
church has failed hitherto in this great media- 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



199 



tion is due largely to the fact that it has 
never seriously tried to leaven the lump of 
society with the teachings of Jesus. The op- 
portunity to give Christianity a trial is un- 
paralleled ; the responsibility unprecedented. 

"Chiefly for these reasons I am severing 
my active connection with the various organ- 
izations, but not my relations with the men 
who compose them, nor any other group in 
the community or elsewhere. I crave fellow- 
ship with every human being in the new and 
stupendous tasks that are at hand, and I want 
most to make my contribution, however small 
it may be, both by tongue and pen, as a min- 
ister of the Gospel of the Grace of God." 
Men as Trees Walking. 

While the enlightened persons will re- 
joice that this brother has decided to free 
himself from connection with the Christ- 
rejecting orders of which he has been a 
member and supporter, all who are fa- 
miliar with the subject will recognize the 
fact that he is not yet fully enlightened. 
This is not strange. It would be very 
remarkable if a man who has been con- 
nected with six or seven secret societies 
for years should see clearly what they 
are and what they are doing on his first 
deliverance from them. He says that his 
association with the members has been 
"pleasant and profitable," etc., etc. That 
this might easily be true according to 
the flesh no one will deny, but that a 
Spirit-filled man could take pleasure or 
profit from the meetings of a lodge like 
the Odd-Fellows or Masons is obviously 
impossible. Even a man of the world 
who is fairly intelligent cannot enjoy 
these gatherings. 

My friend in Philadelphia, who left 
the Masonic Lodge some years ago be- 
cause they tried to compel him to stop 
praying in the name of Jesus Christ, told 
me that he had never been able to enjoy 
the services of the lodge, of which he 
was chaplain and treasurer. He was ac- 
customed for a long time to take a book 
with him to the lodge meeting and while 
the brethren were stripping and halter- 
ing and leading around and stopping to 



ask questions and receive answers he 
sat behind his treasurer's desk and read 
in his book. He said that there were 
other members of the lodge who felt 
exactly as he did and while there were 
persons who enjoyed the stripping and 
haltering and knocking down and drag- 
ging out and burying, he and those of 
like mind were accustomed to gather 
about his treasurer's desk and spend the 
time quietly with themselves. He said, 
''There were some nice fellows in that 
lodge and I did enjoy meeting them so- 
cially but the ceremonies of the lodge, 
long before I became convinced that as 
a Christian man I had nothing to do 
with them, were repulsive and disgust- 
ing." I feel sure that this feeling is 
shared by many thousands of lodge men. 

Getting a Quorum. 

One of the evidences of this fact 
above stated is that it is extremely diffi- 
cult for lodges, where the percentage of 
intelligent and Christian men is large, 
to secure a quorum for the transaction of 
business. I think that this statement will 
be confirmed by the testimony of almost 
anyone who is questioned regarding it. 

It is a standing marvel that the power 
of these lodges should be so great when 
the interest of the intelligent members 
is so small. The reason is that lodges 
are pagan religions. Idolatries are al- 
ways powerful. They can collect money ; 
they can lead people to suffer physical 
pain ; they can do a thousand things 
which it seems difficult for Christian 
leaders to get Christian people to do un- 
der ordinary conditions. Of course, 
when the Spirit of God comes upon an 
organization or a community things are 
different. Then it is easy and delightful 
to get people into serious work for the 
Kingdom of God. But with all the ad- 
vantages that pagan religions like Free- 
masonry, Odd-Fellowship, the Knights 
of Pythias, the Woodmen, etc., have, the 



200 



christian Cynosure 



November, 1919. 



character of the ceremonies is such that 
thoughtful people cannot be interested 
in them. 

I was many years ago awaiting for a 
train at Mattoon, 111. A number of Free- 
masons were in the railway station, who 
had just come down from a meeting of 
the Grand Lodge. They were most of 
them, apparently, intoxicated, and all of 
them were very profane. One of the ex- 
pressions which I remember to have 
been used repeatedly was "damn grist 
mill work." They were complaining of 
the way the lodges were run and this 
was the expression that was used. Those 
who are familiar with the ceremonies of 
the order know that entirely apart from 
the spiritual reactions the intellectual life 
of the orders is extremely low and wear- 
isome to thoughtful people. This 
brother who has severed his relations 
with seven secret societies, says that the 
meetings have been interesting and 
profitable to him personally. I think he 
must have in mind not the intellectual 
life of the orders but the social inter- 
ests, which of course cluster about them. 
From Labor to Refreshment. 
The lodges call going through the cere- 
monies "labor" and when they get 
through with these and have a change 
they call that "refreshment." In re- 
ligious meetings I have observed that 
after the meeting is closed, if the spirit 
is good, there is almost always a dis- 
position to linger for kindly talk. This 
is particularly evident in cases of re- 
vivals. In such times the janitor has al- 
most to drive the people out in order to 
shut up the house. 

In the case of lodges where the mem- 
bership is high toned morally and intel- 
lectually I can readily see how there 
might be such a time as to give rise to 
this expression, but it is also true that 
where the moral tone of the lodge is low 
the after meetings in the lodge are ex- 
tremely obnoxious. 



Some of my readers may perhaps re- 
member what my old friend, George 
Woodford said to me, speaking on this 
subject. His remark was that the young 
fellows he had known to come into the 
lodge were generally ruined after the 
lodge passed from labor to refreshment. 
He said "Every lodge has in it at least 
one leper, and that leper, when he goes 
on to the street with young lodge men, 
knows all the gambling hells, houses of 
prostitution and saloons in the vicinity 
and he ruins men without stint or stay. 
At the present time in this country the 
saloon evil is, we hope, a thing of the 
past, but Satan, though he is irritated 
and disturbed, is not yet defeated and 
will not be until he is bound with a chain 
and cast into the pit. Then he will not 
deceive the nations further for a thou- 
sand years. 

Step by Step. 
We should, however, rejoice that this 
brother sees that it is his duty as a Chris- 
tian man to attend to Christ's work and 
to let the lodges alone, though he has not 
all the truth about them, this is evidently 
true, and God's people ought to pray that 
as he goes forward he may still be led 
by the Spirit to walk in the light until 
he comes to the stature of a full man in 
Christ Jesus. We trust that this is to 
be his happy experience. 



FROM LABOR TO REFRESHMENT. 

From labor to refreshment — what a happy 
thought it is, 
As we journey down the avenues of Time, 
To feel that sweet refreshment will award 
our labors here, 
In that Lodge where every precept is 
sublime. 
To feel that all the burdens, all the sorrows, 
all the woes, 
All the trials, all the aches, and all the 
pains. 
Will be buried as poor Hiram, when the Soul 
in freedom goes 
To that Lodge where our Grand Master 
ever reigns. 
— From G. L. P. of Mississippi, 1914. 

From labor to refreshment — 'tis the Junior 
Warden's call 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



201 



In every Lodge known as Symbolic here 
below, 
And every Brother pauses when he hears the 
gravel fall, 
For its potent power all the Masons know. 
Our mystic work suspended, sweet converse 
reigns supreme, 
And fellowship, which is our richest gem, 
Is set in Love cemented, and its iridescent 
gleam 
Lights to brilliancy our dazzling diadem. 

From labor to refreshment — 'tis the Great 
Grand Master's call 
When our labors in the earthly Lodge are 
o'er, 
And He takes us through the portals of His 
Grand Celestial Hall 
There to live in sweet refreshment ever- 
more. 
There we shall^ see completed all the Master's 
wise designs, 
No longer need the level and the square; 
And there will be no longer any need of grips 
and signs, 
For we shall all be Brethren over there. 
— The Builder [Masonic], July, 1919. 



SPEAK A CHEERFUL WORD. 

Have you never gone out in the morn- 
ing with a heart so depressed and sad- 
dened that a pall seemed spread over all 
the world, but on meeting some friend, 
who spoke cheeringly for a minute or 
two, if only upon indifferent matters, 
have felt yourself wonderfully light- 
ened? Even a child dropping into your 
house on an errand has brought in a ray 
of sunshine, which did not depart when 
he went his way again. It is a blessed 
thing to speak a cheerful word when you 
can. 

"Every heart knoweth its own bitter- 
ness" the world over, and those who live 
in palaces are not exempt, and good 
words to such hearts are like "apples of 
gold in pictures of silver." Even the 
strangers we meet casually by the way, 
in the travelers' waiting-room, are un- 
consciously influenced by the tones we 
use. It is the one with pleasant words 
on his lips to whom the stranger in a 
strange land runs for advice and direc- 
tion. Take it as a compliment, if some 
wayfarer comes to you to direct him 
which street or which train to take, your 
manner has struck him as belonging to 
one he can trust. It is hard sometimes 
to speak a pleasant word when shadows 
rest on our hearts ; but nothing will tend 
more to lighten our spirits than doing it. 



VITAL GODLINESS AND THE 
LODGE. 

BY BJSHOP DAVID S. WARNER OF THE FREE 
METHODIST CHURCH. 

Man's highest and most sacred duty 
is to discharge his obligations to God. 
He owes to God his love, devotion, faith, 
submission and obedience. He owes to 
God the service of his life. He must 
recognize the fact that he is not his own, 
but he is bought with a price, even with 
the precious blood of Christ ; hence he 
rightfully belongs to God in his entirety 
of soul, spirit and body. Man has no 
right to declare -by word or act his inde- 
pendence of the Lord. He is in duty 
bound to acknowledge Him in all his 
ways. He is to "live soberly, righteously, 
and Godly, in this present world, look- 
ing for that blessed hope and the glorious 
appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself 
for us, that He might redeem us from all 
iniquity and purify unto Himself a pe- 
culiar people, zealous of good works." 
(Titus 2:12-14). 

How Is This Life Attained? 

Vital Godliness does not result from 
man's efforts alone. It is attained 
through the co-operation of divine pow- 
er and man's ability. Man can place him- 
self in such an attitude with respect to 
the Lord that a divine work will be 
wrought in him. As man repents, con- 
fesses and trusts in God and the atone- 
ment that has been made for the world, 
he becomes a new creature in Christ 
Jesus. He is born of the Spirit. Old 
things pass away and all things become 
new. The sins of the past are all for- 
given. There remains no condemna- 
tion upon his soul. He loves the things 
he once hated, and he hates the things 
he once loved. He has a new ambition 
in life, and his joys are new. His heart 
does not seek the sinful pastimes and 
companionships that formerly were at- 
tractive to him. Since his eyes were 
fixed on Jesus, he has lost sight of all 
besides. Evil habits have lost their hold 
upon him. He finds himself free from 
their chains. His heart is set on things 
above. 
Sustained and Increased in One Way Only. 

Vital Godliness is sustained and in- 
creased by a careful and constant walk 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



with God. One who is born of God 
does not seek worldly pleasure for satis- 
faction. He experiences the fulfilment 
of the promise recorded by Isaiah, 
"Therefore with joy shall ye draw 
water out of the wells of salvation." 
(Isa. 12:3.) The pleasures of the world 
are insipid to him who has tasted the 
joys of salvation. 

How It Effects Converted Lodgemen. 

It is not a matter of surprise that 
when members of the lodge become 
truly converted they lose their relish for 
the lodge and its companionship, and in 
many instances are led to expose and 
oppose the lodge. They find it in their 
hearts to warn young people against 
joining the lodge, because the spirit of 
organized secrecy is far from being help- 
ful to growth in the graces of the Spirit. 
One who is bound up with secret or- 
ganizations is in a position where he is 
unlikely to become a thorough Christian, 
and in such a position an increase in 
true piety cannot be expected. In the 
Scriptures we are exhorted to grow in 
grace, and in order that such growth 
may be possible, there must be the ab- 
sence of those influences that hinder it. 
Vital Godliness cannot be attained or 
retained unless there is a growth in 
grace and in the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ. Hence it is well to look care- 
fully to one's spirit and environment. 
It is essential that one avoid such asso- 
ciations as do not tend to promote 
Christian progress or steadfastness. Vol- 
untary associations are here referred to. 
One is responsible for the choice he 
makes. One can grow in grace even 
amid unfavorable surroundings, if such 
environment is providential or not of 
his choosing. We are exhorted to sep- 
arate ourselves from such associations 
as do not tend toward the knowledge or 
love of God. 

Lodge Influence Upon Experimental Re- 
ligion. 

It will be profitable to study briefly 
the effects of the spirit and practises of 
the lodge upon experimental religion, or 
vital Godliness. In general it may be 
said that selfishness characterizes oath- 
bound secret societies. For what pur- 
pose do men join together in these 
lodges? Is it not that they may ad- 



vance their personal interests? They 
expect to gain something for themselves 
socially or financially. They expect to 
receive the favor and support of those 
with whom they are associated. Secret 
society people frequently speak of the 
advantages they derive while traveling 
or when in places among strangers from 
their membership in the lodge. In fact 
they are constantly looking for the bene- 
fits that are to come to them, while those 
who are not in the lodge belong to an- 
other world, as far as they are con- 
cerned. The spirit of the lodge is de- 
cidedly a spirit of selfishness and the 
spirit of selfishness is the spirit of the 
world and not the spirit of vital Godli- 
ness. In some of the secret orders the 
members are sworn to defend one an- 
other even in wrongdoing. A lodge 
brother is to defend a lodge brother 
though guilty of the grossest of crimes. 
How can a Christian maintain his stand- 
ing with his God when he is under oath 
to defend a lodge brother who has com- 
mitted a crime punishable by imprison- 
ment or death? The Scriptures declare 
that one is not to suffer sin upon his 
brother, but the lodge says that one is 
to defend his brother when he is charged 
with great crimes, whether or not he is 
guilty. No one can expect to be spirit- 
ually-minded who takes such oaths upon 
himself and stands by them. 

Profane Use of the Oath and Its Effect. 
The oaths of many of the secret or- 
ders are horrible. What is the signifi- 
cance of these oaths? It is evident that 
these oaths are administered for some 
purpose. Is this purpose to awe the 
candidate into the keeping of the secrets 
imparted to him? Is it not intended to 
inflict the penalty in case the oath is 
violated? If the purpose is not to inflict 
the penalty, then there is a trifling with 
horrid oaths and execrations, and a 
Christian has no business with them so 
far as taking them and living under 
them is concerned. If it is intended 
that the penalty attached to the oaths 
is to be actually inflicted, then every can- 
didate that takes the oath is approving 
of acts of murder, and certainly the 
Christian has no business living under 
such a system. It is his place to come 
out and separate himself from it. He 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



203 



should reprove the evils of the system 
rather than uphold the lodge. 

The Pleasure-Loving Spirit. 
It is commonly known that there is a 
pleasure-loving spirit in the lodge. In 
many of the initiation ceremonies this 
spirit is strongly in evidence. The regu- 
lar secret work of the lodge is employed 
to create amusement in many instances, 
and besides this there is much intro- 
duced on the side to produce merriment 
at the expense of the candidate. It is 
fitting to ask the question, "Is the candi- 
date, if he is a professing Christian, in 
an atmosphere conducive to growth in 
grace? Is it becoming for him, as he is 
being led about in the lodge-room, blind- 
folded and partially unclothed, to de- 
clare that he is seeking for light? Can 
he have under such circumstances a con- 
sciousness of the divine favor? The 
lodge is largely given over to worldly 
pleasure. The frequent announcement 
of the lodge-dance is ample proof of 
this. This fact speaks loudly against 
the consistency of a Christian's being 
associated with the lodge. He cannot 
consistently indulge in such affairs nor 
can he consistently allow his money to 
go for their support. 

Two Antagonistic Systems. 

The most serious consideration touch- 
ing the matter of the Christian's mem- 
bership in the lodge is that in the major 
lodges a false religion is taught and 
practised. The Christian believes in 
Jesus Christ and the atonement He 
made as the only hope of his salvation. 
The teachings of the lodge are directly 
antagonistic to this faith, for it declares 
that one who practises the teachings of 
the order is prepared for admittance to 
the grand lodge above, and that, too, 
whether he is Christian or pagan in his 
personal religious belief. It is not es- 
sential, according to lodge religion, to 
have faith in Christ. The atonement of 
Jesus is not essential, according to this 
false religious system. 

The Christian bases his hope of 
heaven upon the cross of Christ, but if 
he enters the lrjdge, he finds a new re- 
ligion advocated and a new system of 
morals. He finds that what was wrong 
outside the lodge is declared to be right 
inside the lodge. He had the belief that 



crimes should be exposed and punished, 
but inside the lodge he finds that crime 
in a lodge brother should be concealed 
or defended. Conditions mightily change 
as one finds himself within the secret 
lodge. Outside the lodge the Christian 
acknowledges Jesus as divine and uses 
His name in prayer, but in certain de- 
grees in the lodge the name of Christ is 
not used in prayer. Again we declare 
that it is no wonder that many, many 
Christians have been constrained to 
leave the lodge in order to maintain their 
standing before the Lord. 

Is there not an inconsistency in a 
Christian minister's adherence to such 
an institution as the secret lodge? Can 
any Christian have fellowship with the 
works of darkness and be free from 
condemnation? Can one be unequally 
yoked together with unbelievers and be 
guiltless ? 

"Wherefore come out from among 
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 
and touch not the unclean thing; and I 
will receive you, and will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 
(i Cor. 6:17, 18.) 



SOLD FAKE MASONIC DEGREES. 

NEW YORK, Aug. 8. — Accused of 
having conferred bogus Masonic degrees 
on more than 1,000 men, many of them 
soldiers and sailors, since last March, 
Spencer S. Ransom and Adam Stepan 
are held here today in $1,000 and $500 
bail respectively on a charge of grand 
larceny and fraud. They pleaded not 
guilty^ 

Posing as the general organizer of 
Masonic lodges under an alleged charter 
from the Grand Lodge of Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, accord- 
ing to the district attorney's office. Ran- 
som is said to have received $50 from 
each candidate. Stepan, it is said, was 
master of "Alpha lodge," which met in a 
hall in a side street off the Bowery. He 
alleges that he was duped into becoming 
an officer of the lodge. 

One of the alleged victims charged 
that the defendants had offered to make 
him a thirty-third degree Mason for 
$140. 

— Evening Post, Aug. 9, 1919. 



204 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



IS THE LUTHERAN CHURCH ALONE 

IN ITS OPPOSITION TO 

THE LODGE? 

This article was written by Mr. B. M. 
Holt for his Lutheran Church paper, but 
has been offered for publication in the 
Christian Cynosure, and is thankfully re- 
ceived. — Editor. 

We often hear the remark, that "the 
Lutheran Church is the only church that 
opposes secret societies." Is there any 
truth in these assertions and is there any 
reason for making such claims ? No ! 
As a matter of sad fact not all Lutheran 
pastors oppose the lodge, but on the con- 
trary there are some "Lutheran" pastors 
in the General Synod and General Coun- 
cil bodies that are prominent members 
of the lodge, many of them having at- 
tained to the so-called "higher degrees." 
But in this respect we should bear in 
mind that such pastors are Lutheran in 
name only. They have shamefully dis- 
graced the good name of our dear Luth- 
eran Church, and stand as a mark of 
sorrow and pity for all Christians 
whether Lutheran or not! 

With the idea in view that it would, 
perhaps, be encouraging for our worthy 
ministers who are sounding a warning 
against the wiles of the devil as he has 
them concealed in the lodge, I present 
the following noteworthy remarks for 
consideration, which are all based on of- 
ficial decisions, and are not mere opin- 
ions and wishes of individuals. 



The Free Methodist Church. 1,337 Pastors. 

"Our Church is opposed to the lodge. 
Membership in the lodge is a bar to 
membership in our church." 

(Signed) David S. Warner. 
Editor : Light and Life Evangel. 



The Old German Baptist Church. 218 
Pastors. 

"Our Church is solid against the oath- 
bound lodges, and will allow none of its 
members to hold to or belong to, secret 
societies." 

(Signed) Henry Garber. 
Editor: The Vindicator. 



Wesleyan Methodist Church, 640 Pastors. 

"Our Church excludes from member- 
ship, members of all secret societies 
whether oath-bound or not. This rule 



is observed very closely, so that I do not 
know, personally, of a single violation of 
it. The churches are permitted to re- 
ceive, as associate members, converted 
persons who belong to secret societies 
and who may not as yet have severed 
connection, but the relation is designed 
to be temporary, and such membership 
does not permit the person to hold office 
or vote in the business meetings." 

(Signed) F. A. Butterfield. 
Editor : Wesleyan Methodist. 



The Evangelical Church 1,081 Pastors. 

"The official attitude of our Church 
in regard to secret and oath-bound so- 
cieties is that of the Constitution and 
By-Laws, according to which no pastor 
or parochial school teacher is permitted 
to be a member of a secret society." 
(Signed) J. H. Horstmann. 
Editor : Evangelical Herald. 



The Primitive Baptist Church. 1,500 
Pastors. 

"The great majority of Primitive Bap- 
tist Churches and Associations do not 
fellowship secret, oath-bound, Christless 
societies, and do not allow their mem- 
bers to belong to them. 

"During the Civil War, in the Middle 
West, some members of secret societies 
crept into some of our churches, and 
these churches have not had the Scrip- 
tural faith and courage to rid themselves 
of them; and our best members very 
much regret this disorder." 

(Signed) Sylvester Hassell. 
Editor: Gospel Messenger. 



Church of the Brethren. 3,199 Pastors. 
"The attitude of our Church has been 
one of absolute opposition to secret so- 
cieties of all kinds. There are not many 
churches in our brotherhood that toler- 
ate members who unite with any secret 
order, although a decision made at Con- 
ference in 191 5 has opened the way 
whereby members may belong to Relief 
Associations, Labor Unions, etc., when 
such membership does not violate gos- 
pel principles as our church sees them." 
(Signed) J. H. B. Williams. 
Secy.-Treas. General Mission Board. 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



205 



The Associate Presbyterian Church, About 
113 Pastors. 

"Members of secret orders are not ad- 
mitted to our communion." 

(Signed) R. K. Atchison. 
Pastor at Rimersburg, Pcnn. 



The Reformed Presbyterian Church. 135 
Pastors. 
"The lodge is unscientific, undemo- 
cratic, and unchristian in principles, and 
injurious in its effects upon the individ- 
ual, the Home, the Church, and the 
State. 

"Our people are warned against or- 
ganizations among the youth which are 
fashioned after the order of secret so- 
cieties." 

(Signed) J. C. McFeeters. 
From Minutes of Synod, 191 6. 



Church of the Plymouth Brethren. 403 
Pastors. 

"A Christian cannot belong to secret 
societies and honor Christ." This testi- 
mony appeared in a tract of their publi- 
cation. 



204 



The Christian Reformed Church. 

Pastors. 
"Our Church stands united in its op- 
position to our wily enemy, the lodge ; 
and we are ever watchful and active in 
warning our people of this great evil." 
(Signed) Henry Beets. 

Editor: The Banner. 



The Church of United Brethren in Christ. 
237 Pastors. 

"Most assuredly, our Church is 
against the lodge ; how can any Christian 
church be for it? Secret societies must 
be down, if not before, then certainly 
so on the Day of Judgment." 

(Signed) T. Howe, 
Editor : Missionary Monthly. 



The Mennonite Church 1,476 Pastors. 

"Our Church takes the ground that 
all secret societies without exception are 
in their tendency in direct opposition to 
the letter and spirit of the Word of 
God. * * * Therefore no congre- 
gation which tolerates among its mem- 
bers those belonging to secret societies 
shall be admitted into Conference. All 
congregations belonging to Conference 



are asked to energetically testify .-against 
the lodge evil." 

(Signed) C. Van dek Smissen. 
From Constitution, Charter & By Laws. 



Then there are many church bodies 
that have not as yet reached a state 
where official action may be attained to, 
although in some cases their editors, and 
leading ministers and professors are 
very active in their opposition to the se- 
cret system and are in deep sympathy 
with anti-lodge work. Among such 
churches can be named, The Christian 
Church, the United Presbyterian Church, 
the Moravian Church, the Quaker 
Church or Society of Friends, the Nor- 
wegian Baptist Church, the Congrega- 
tional Church, etc., etc. 

Aside from the foregoing we also have 
the National Christian Association, a 
"strictly non-denominational" concern 
organized at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
in 1868, incorporated under the laws of 
Illinois in 1874, now located at 850 West 
Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois. Its 
object is to warn against the paganism 
of secret societies, the which not only 
destroys men, but souls ! The said or- 
ganization owns its building; operates a 
fairly large printing establishment ; 
prints a well-edited and well circulated 
monthly magazine, the Christian Cyn- 
osure, containing current events and 
tangible results of the damnable lodge 
evil, gathered from all parts of the 
world; has printed thousands and thou- 
sands of tracts and pamphlets (in vari- 
ous languages) and hundreds and hun- 
dreds of books (volumes) treating lodg- 
ery, and assists in the general sale and 
distribution of all worthy anti-lodge lit- 
erature, including that of our own 
church ; supports, financially, five regu- 
lar workers and "field-secretaries" (a 
number of volunteer workers are also 
associated with the N. C. A.) ; co-oper- 
ates with eloquent and well informed 
lecturers stationed here and there 
throughout the union, etc. 

The National Christian Association is 
not supported by any certain church or 
churches, but receives its contributions 
from men and women interested in the 
suppression of this, the greatest menace 
of America today ; and hundreds of dol- 
lars have entered into its general treas- 



206 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



ury from our own people, by way of 
their purchase of its books and other 
anti-lodge material. Send for a sample 
of the Cynosure and catalogue of books 
and pamphlets. Herewith note : "When 
1 visited the North Nebraska District 
Conference of the Missouri Synod 
(Lutheran) in 191 7, I was permitted to 
address the conference on the lodge 
question, after which they adopted the 
following resolution : 

' 'Resolved, that we endorse the pur- 
poses and objects of the National Chris- 
tian Association in its opposition to se- 
cret societies. And that we deem these 
aims and efforts of the society worthy of 
our support.' 
"'(Signed) J. F. E. Schliepsick, 
" 'Secretary. 
"/M. Adam, President. 

"Respectfully, 

"W. I. Phillips, 
"Secretary-Treasurer of the National 

Christian Association." 

Much good has come from the N. C. A. 
and even though we cannot fraternize 
with said organization, we can at least 
give them our support by subscribing for 
its paper and purchasing its books. 

In conclusion, permit me to call your 
attention to one very important lesson 
we should learn from the attitude the 
heretofore mentioned church bodies take 
with regard to the lodge evil. As we 
well know, all church denominations 
have their internal schisms and home 
troubles ; and excepting a very few, all 
denominations have been split and re- 
split on this account, the same as is the 
case in the Lutheran church. And why ? 
The reason is the same as that among 
ourselves, namely, the one faction's de- 
votion to what they believe is right and 
true and their strict adherence to prin- 
ciple; and the other faction's inclination 
to indifferentism, lukewarmness, union- 
ism, and love for the highly forbidden 
fruit. The lesson : the conservative fac- 
tion among the reformed bodies and 
sects, that is, the parties that cleave to 
principle and fight for righteousness (of 
course, all true Lutherans will disagree 
with them in their various Scriptural in- 
terpretations) are the very denomina- 
tions that also oppose, most bitterly, the 
damnable, secret lodge. And we cer- 



tainly esteem every person who by the 
grace of God confesses faith in the sav- 
ing power of the blood of the Lamb, and 
has courage enough to live and die for 
his faith, even though such person has 
not as yet attained to the full truth and 
power of the Word and Sacraments !' 

No ! the Lutheran church is not alone 
in its efforts to teach sinful mortal the 
tremendous difference between salvation 
through faith in Christ Jesus, and a pass- 
port to heaven by way of the man-made 
religion and hieroglyphical "good works" 
of the lodge! And even if it was alone, 
is not one with God in majority? And 
far better is a believing Methodist, Men- 
nonite, Baptist or Presbyterian than a 
Lutheran who believes not ! 

Lord of the Church, we humbly pray 
For those who guide us in Thy way, 

And speak Thy Holy W 7 ord : 
With love divine their hearts inspire, 
And touch their lips with hallowed fire, 

And needful grace afford. 

Help them to preach the truth of God, 
Redemption through the Savior's blood: 

Nor let the Spirit cease 
On all the Church His gifts to shower; 
To them a messenger of power, 

To us, of life and peace. 

B. M. Holt, 
Ex-Secretary of Pierson Lodge No. 

169, A. F. and A. M. of Barnesville, 

Minn. 



In connection with the foregoing arti- 
cle we wish to call attention to Mr. 
Holt's book, The Case Against the 
Lodge, which is a result of an eighteen 
months' painstaking investigation into 
the lodge evil, based on absolute facts 
obtained from the lodge itself. Over 
five thousand letters wjere needed to 
complete his set of proofs, now filed in 
vaults. The little book can be applied to 
all secret, oath-bound lodges having a 
ritual, and should be freely distributed 
in all congregations where such informa- 
tion is deemed needful. An advertise- 
ment of this book appears on the last 
page of the Cynosure. 



A man that hath friends must show 
himself friendly. — Prov. 18:24. 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



207 



FREE METHODISTS ON SECRET 
SOCIETIES. 

Reports from the State Conferences 

of the Free Methodist Church show their 

clear ringing testimony against the lodge. 

The following is their most recent stand : 

West Iowa Conference. 

"Every secret society is founded on 
selfishness. 'You protect me and I will 
protect you.' Men love darkness rather 
than light because their deeds are evil. 
For this reason many things are done in 
secret. We lift our voices against such 
societies." 

Illinois Conference. 

"Secret Societies — We reaffirm all 
that has been said at previous sessions 
concerning this false religion which has 
become so prevalent in our land, and 
one of the most dangerous foes to civil 
liberty. We believe the system to be 
inimical to our institutions and a curse 
to our country. We urge our people to 
keep their vow they have made the 
church, namely, to 'abstain from con- 
nection with all secret societies.' We 
would likewise urge the pastors to de- 
mand of those who would come among 
us that they leave their secret societies 
and have no connection with the same. 
'If they say unto you, he is in the secret 
chamber, believe it not.' Remember 
Him who said, 'In secret have I said 
nothing.' Also, 'Men love darkness 
rather than light because their deeds are 
evil'." 

Ohio Conference. 

"We reaffirm our position against 
oath-bound secret societies with their 
unchristian combinations. While allow- 
ing all the right to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own con- 
sciences, we wish to voice our opposi- 
tion to the hierarchy of Rome and its 
political aspirations. We stand for free 
speech and the freedom of the press." 

East Ontario Conference. 
"We still maintain our position as an 
enemy to every oath-bound secret or- 
der. With many men the lodge is their 
church, and dues that should go to the 
uo-building of the home and the support 
of the Gospel are being spent to carry 
on these orders of darkness. They are 
a menace to the church, the home and 
the government. The Word of God 



says, 'Be ye not unequally yoked to- 
gether with unbelievers, for what fel- 
lowship hath righteousness with un- 
righteousness? and what communion 
hath light with darkness ?' ' 

East Michigan Conference. 

"We still stand eternally opposed to 
oath-bound secret societies, and while 
the brood is multiplied on every hand, 
making it still more difficult to get peo- 
ple saved and separated from the world, 
we must faithfully warn the people of 
the evils of these institutions and take 
the same uncompromising position our 
fathers took." 

Columbia River Conference. 

"Secret Societies are out of joint with 
a true appreciation of that statement of 
our beloved Lincoln : 'Government of 
the people, by the people and for the 
people.' It cannot be said that the in- 
terests of all the people are taken into 
account by men who bind themselves to- 
gether and promise, under solemn oath, 
to conserve the interests of one another 
in preference to the interests of the 
whole. We hold that such institutions 
are un-American and un-Christian, and 
a menace to the home and the church. 

Oil City Conference. 

"Secrecy in general is always open to 
suspicion because of its evil doings. A 
good thing need not be covered and a 
bad thing ought not be protected by a 
covering of secrecy. Men love darkness 
rather than light because their deeds are 
evil. Secrecy is detrimental to free gov- 
ernment and free speech and stands in 
the way of justice and judgment. As a 
church we reaffirm our position against 
this un-Christian institution and demand 
that men come out of the works of dark- 
ness if they would have our fellowship 
or indorsement." 



The Chicago Tribune in discussing the 
movement to combine all labor unions 
into a single organization, says, "This 
means the concentration of all authority 
in the hands of a group of leaders. This 
centralization of power may result in a 
benevolent despotism, but it will be a 
despotism and subject to all the abuses 
of a despotism. " — United Presbyterian. 
September u, 1919. 



208 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



THE ORDER OF PINK GOATS. 

Recently a new lodge was organized 
in an eeastern city under the name of 
"The Order of Pink Goats." The follow- 
ing are some of the titles of the various 
officers: "Little White Goat," "Chief 
Billy Goat," "Chief Wise Goat," "Chief 
Bleater Goat," "Goat Getters," "Nanny 
Goats," "Outer Angora Goats," "Inner 
Angora Goats," "Bell Goats," and "Mu- 
sical Goats." Their motto is "To help 
others help yourselves." The members 
of this newly organized order appeared 
to the public in the form of a parade 
dressed in pink pajamas and gowns, car- 
rying goats of all kinds and descriptions. 
A Chicago man was elected as their lead- 
er and is known as the "He Goat." 

Any man who will stoop so low as to 
consent to be called after a goat is not a 
fit man with whom to associate. Let him 
do as the goats do, for on the Judgment 
Day he will be classed among the goats 
at the left hand of God, unless he re- 
pents his sins 'ere his transitory life is 
ended. Think of a Christian, or a Sun- 
day School teacher, fellowshiping with 
men of this class ! No wonder our 
churches are shorn of their spiritual 
power — the spirit of God cannot dwell 
in an unclean heart. 

It has often been the writer's privi- 
lege to go through the packing houses 
in Chicago and one of the interesting 
features of the visit is the leading of 
the sheep into the slaughtering pen. A 
goat has been trained to go through the 
narrow gate and the sheep, trusting him, 
follow, but instead of leading them to 
safety, they find they have been trapped. 
So it is with the young man who is 
caught in the trap of secretism. He 
finds upon uniting with the Lodge that 
his usefulness and service in the church 
of God has lessened and that his time 
and talents which ought to be used in 
the furtherance of Christ's kingdom, is 
being wasted in the lodgeroom. 



PLAIN WORDS FROM A MASON. 

"Accepting the principle laid down by 
Paul (namely, Whatsoever a man sow- 
eth, that shall he also reap), the great 
Masonic order makes the following de- 
claration, found in our Standard Mon- 
itor, which is an open book : 'Although 
our thoughts, words, and actions may be 



hidden from the eyes of men, yet that 
All-seeing Eye whom the sun, moon, 
and stars obey, and under whose watch- 
ful care even comets perform their 
stupendous revolutions, pervades the in- 
most recesses of the human heart, and 
will reward us according to our merits.' 
Nearly all our great modern frat- 
ernities allow the lead of Masonry in 
this matter and condition future rewards 
upon personal merit. They accord to a 
man the right to get his inspiration to a 
noble life from Moses, Buddha, Con- 
fucius, Krishna, Jesus, or any other one 
or more of the great religious leaders, 
but teach him that in the end he must 
stand or fall on his own merit. That 
this principle is commending itself to 
the modern Western world's sense of 
justness and of the eternal fitness of 
things is evidenced by the fact that our 
modern fraternities are going forward 
by leaps and bounds, while the churches, 
still more or less bound by the old sac- 
rificial and dogmatic forms of religion, 
are having a struggle to maintain them- 
selves. Religion is not wanting, but the 
old sacrificial and dogmatic forms are 
giving place to the ethical and spiritual 
form, according to which all men, in- 
cluding those killed in battle, will, as 
Paul puts it, reap as they have sown, or, 
as the great fraternities put it, be re- 
warded according to their merits." — 
Ohio State Journal, Dec. 28, 191 6. 

This certainly is clear water. We 
thank the writer for his transparent 
English. If any man wants that kind of 
water to quench the thirst of his soul, 
there it is pure and undiluted, without 
any merit of a crucified Saviour. As 
for ourselves, we want none of it. 

Let the reader observe for one thing 
how Paul is quoted approvingly on the 
one side, but ignored completely on the 
other. Paul indeed says that whatso- 
ever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap. Let us suppose that Paul here re- 
ferred only to a man's personal works 
aside from any question of faith, which, 
however, is not the case, as a careful 
study of the words following must 
show ; but suppose that here he is speak- 
ing only of what are generally con- 
sidered a man's works, whether good or 
bad. But Paul also says, "By the works 
of the Law shall no man be justified in 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN ' CYNOSURE 



209 



His sight." Again he says, "For by 
grace have ye been saved through faith : 
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift 
of God : not of works, lest any man 
should boast." 

Why does the fraternity man not 
quote both sets of passages of Paul and 
be fair at least to Paul? Why does he 
not try to harmonize the two? There is 
a Law and there is a Gospel. Both are 
from God and are divine. They are of 
equal authority. Man has no right to 
discard or mutilate the one any more 
than the other. Paul deals with both. 
He gives each its place and purpose. 
The fraternities take only the Law and 
try to bridge a way to heaven with the 
Ten Commandments. The Gospel in its 
real essence they ignore completely. 

For another thing let the reader note 
how our author places Jesus down 
among Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, 
and, we may suppose, Joseph Smith of 
Mormonism, and others. There is where 
one gets by departing from the plain 
teachings of the Bible and following 
blind reason. Nor is it at all strange to 
hear these things from fraternity men. 
The same things are preached from 
many pulpits. In fact, we consider it 
one of the greatest, if not the greatest 
danger of the day threatening the life 
of the churches, this notion that a man 
is saved by his works and not by the 
atoning merits of Christ. — Lutheran 
Standard (Ohio Synod). 



He that trusts in his own merits, de- 
fames the death, sacrifice and prayer of 
Christ. — Luther. 



INDIAN MASONRY. 

In 1880, some of the White River 
Utes were out on the War Path, and a 
party, one of which was myself [Bro. 
Thompson, Centerville, Iowa] desired to 
cross the Sangre de Christo or second 
range of the Rocky Mountains, and as 
we were going nearly into the territory 
of these rebellious Utes, we were re- 
quired to go in at least seven together 
and the government made us carry Win- 
chester rifles and ammunition to defend 
ourselves with and then the licensed 
wagon drivers to haul our trunks and 
paraphernalia. We were required to 
walk three a quarter of a mile ahead of 



the team and three the same distance 
behind it and one with the driver be- 
tween these to avoid being surprised and 
be in hearing distance to assist or mobil- 
ize in event of signs of trouble and so 
forth. I happened on a certain day near 
the first of June to be with the front 
three, being a Mason and my compan- 
ions were not such, when about ten. 
o'clock in the forenoon, just as we turned 
a point on the mountain side, behold we 
were within 75 yards of about 75 to 100 
Indians in their War Paint, walking 
single file down the side of the mountain, 
seemingly rather occupied looking close- 
ly at the ground. We three immediate- 
ly cocked our guns, the noise of which 
attracted their attention, and they each 
seemed simultaneously to do the same 
thing. I saw that would not pay so said 
hold on to my companions — sat my gun 
down and hailed them with the grand 
hailing sign of a Master Mason, at which 
their leader, being a Chief, said some- 
thing to them in their language and they 
all took their guns down and he asked 
in English that I meet him and pow wow. 
I started with my gun, when he told me 
to leave that, which I accordingly did. 
My companions did not want me to go 
and while parleying with them he sa- 
luted me with a part of the sign of a 
M. M. rather than the due guard, and 
I told my boys I was going to him or to 
meet him, and did so. W T e met, grasped 
hands as M. M.'s with the grip and then 
we went around behind some rocks and 
went through the grips and words of 
Blue Lodge Masonry, as w r ell as you and 
I could meet and do it. Then he told 
me they were on the war path against 
those rebellious Utes who had but a few 
hours before gone across the path they 
were trailing when we came across them 
They had seen us some time before we 
had seen them and said they were in the 
Government employ. I felt relieved and 
glad to meet a brother there in the wilds 
of Colorado even if he was a red 
Brother and belonged to a lodge to which 
mine was a clandestine one. He said 
that no one knew about how long the 
order had existed among them but that 
the Medicine men had gotten it from the 
Great Spirit and it was never given to 
anyone below a sub chief, as a common 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



warrior would be useless if he had it 
in righting the enemy if he happened up- 
on a Mason, as he would be too lenient 
for Indian warfare. — Quarterly Bul- 
letin [Masonic], October, 1919. 



A DEGREE FACTORY. 

Oklahoma City Lodge No. 36, has 
probably broken the record for the num- 
ber of initiations in one day. On Satur- 
day, May 24, this lodge initiated sixty- 
two men from 9 o'clock in the morning 
to 9 o'clock at night. Three teams were 
kept runnning continuously during the 
time and the workers worked in 
shifts. 

The cause of this sudden outpouring 
was a resolution introduced into the 
lodge several weeks before which pro- 
vided for an advance of the initiation fee 
from $50.00 to $75.00. This news leaked 
out and almost 100 applications were re- 
ceived before the advanced price went 
into effect. From this list a class was 
organized and all who were elected were 
notified to be present on May 24 to be 
initiated and sixty-two appeared. — The 
Freemason, Toronto, Canada. 

Almost every magazine we pick up 
now days has an article of a similar na- 
ture. Only a few days since we received 
a copy of the Ottumwa Courier, giving 
an account of another class initiated into 
Clinton Chapter of that city, wherein 
sixty-six candidates were received in- 
side of the twenty-three hours of the 
day. We receive numerous copies of 
papers giving like information, asking 
that we make note of same in our Bul- 
letin. It was only a year or two since 
that we had a very strong article on 
"Are we making Masons too fast?" in 
which we stated that we were not, but 
that we were conferring the Masonic 
degrees upon men altogether too fast. 
We can hardly approve of this immense 
number of men rushing through the de- 
grees in a few hours. — Quarterly Bul- 
letin [Masonic], October, 1919. 



What must he be, the great Master 
Workman, seeing that all the unselfish- 
ness, compassion, and love that are con- 
tinually shining out in our humanity 
are but faint reflections of Him \—Kate 
W . Hamilton. 



SHRINER'S CELEBRATION. 

On page 462 of the "General History, 
Cyclopedia and Dictionary of Freema- 
sonry" by Robert Macoy we read : 
"Masonry is the excellency of Christian- 
ity, and every Mason is, if he is in real- 
ity a Mason, a true Christian, or at least 
he is in reality truly religious according 
to his profession, whether he be Jew or 
Christian." 

"A true Christian" who is "truly re- 
ligious" is not one who participates in 
and enjoys the pleasures of the world, 
but one who seeks to do the will of God 
and who delights to serve Him. If Ma- 
sonry is "the excellency of Christianity" 
and if "every Mason is a true Christian" 
then why all this enthusiasm and appre- 
ciation for a worldly amusement as re- 
corded on September 25th last in the 
Clarion Daily News, of Princeton, In- 
diana : 

Four hundred Shriners and their ladies had 
a real Shrine party in Princeton last night. 
The local Nobles and their ladies were the 
hosts and hostesses and their guests included 
Nobles from Evansville, Mt. Vernon, New 
Harmony, Mt. Carmel and other neighboring 
places. 

The ball opened in the I. O. O. F. hall at 
9 :30 o'clock, with the excellent Shrine or- 
chestra on the job. The hall was resplendent 
with American flags, Chinese lanterns and 
Shrine decorations. The big hall was crowd- 
ed to capacity, and it was a jovial bunch 
that "knew no stranger" and tripped as light 
a fantastic toe as was ever tripped in this ball 
room. 

A surprise feature of the evening was a 
series of Oriental dances given by M ! iss Mar- 
guerite Agniel, of New York City, who is vis- 
iting her mother. The local entertainment 
committee recognized this unusual opportun- 
ity of giving the Shrine party a New York at- 
traction and were delighted when Miss Ag- 
niel consented to appear. 

Miss Agniel gave a series of three Oriental 
dances in costume. The first was an Arab- 
ian dance. The second was entitled "The In- 
cense Dance," which depicts a Hindu maiden 
dedicating herself to the temple. She ad- 
vances slowly with her bowl of incense, and 
as the fragrant vapors arise she becomes fas- 
cinated with the wreathing motion of the 
smoke. The spirit of the object of her wor- 
ship takes possession of her, and imbued with 
religious rapture she takes unon herself the 
wreathing motion and eventually imagines her- 
self a part of the smoke. The third number 
was the East Indian Nautch dance. The 
Nautch girls are the dancing girls of India. 

So appreciative was the audience that Miss 
Agniel was compelled to respond to several 
encores, giving improvised dances of Oriental 
character, 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



211 



THE AMERICAN LEGION, INC. 

A national congressional charter was 
granted The American Legion by the 
Wolcott-Johnson bill, making the organ- 
ization of American veterans of the 
great war a national incorporation, 
which became a law on September 16th. 
President Wilson signed it in his private 
car at Hornbrook, California. 

Incorporation signifies a great victory 
and national recognition for The Ameri- 
can Legion, it being the first time in the 
history of the United States that an or- 
ganization of this kind has been thus 
honored by Congress. 

The history of the bill's rapid progress 
through Congress follows : 

Introduced in the House by Repre- 
sentative Royal C. Johnson of South Da- 
kota on June 27th. 

Introduced in the Senate by Senator 
Josiah O. Wolcott of Delaware on Au- 
gust 23rd. 

Passed in House on August 28th. 

Passed in Senate on September 5th. 

Signed by the President on September 
1 6th. 

Among the features of the incorpor- 
ation bill are : 

That no person shall be a member un- 
less he served in the naval or military 
service of the United States at some time 
during the period between April 6, 19 17, 
and November 11, 1918, both dates in- 
clusive, or who, being citizens of the 
United States at the time of enlistment, 
served in the military or naval services 
of any of the governments associated 
with the United States during the Great 
War. 

That the organization shall be non-po- 
litical and, as an organization, shall not 
promote the candidacy of any person 
seeking public office. 

That the corporation shall, on or be- 
fore the first day of January in each 
year, make and transmit to the Congress 
a report of its proceedings for the pre- 
ceding calendar year, including a full 
and complete report of its receipts and 
expenditures. 

Preamble of Constitution. 

"For God and Country we associate 
ourselves together for the following pur- 
poses: To uphold and defend the Con- 
stitution of the United States of Amer- 



ica ; to maintain law and order ; to foster 
and perpetuate a one hundred per cent. 
Americanism ; to preserve the memories 
and incidents of our association in the 
Great War; to inculcate a sense of indi- 
vidual obligation to the community, state 
and nation ; to combat the autocracy of 
both the classes and the masses ; to make 
right the master of might; to promote 
peace and good will on earth ; to safe- 
guard and transmit to posterity the prin- 
ciples of justice, freedom and democ- 
racy; to consecrate and sanctify our 
comradeship by our devotion to mutual 
helpfulness." 

— Adopted at St. Louis. 

Pershing Outlines Legion's Policies. 

At his first public meeting since his 
return from France, General John J. 
Pershing personally endorsed the Amer- 
ican Legion in the presence of 10,000 ex- 
service men and women who attended a 
monster mass meeting arranged in his 
honor in Madison Square Garden, New 
York City, on the evening of September 
nth. 

'T am glad to give encouragement to 
the American Legion as long as it stands 
for true Americanism," he said, "as long 
as it keeps its skirts clean and free from 
petty politics, and with that understand- 
ing I shall be glad to encourage in every 
way in the increase of its membership 
and in aiding it to teach the country, if 
you will, more of patriotism than it had 
before the war. 

"To put it into one sentence, the 
American Legion should cherish and 
foster the lessons in patriotism that have 
been brought home to the American peo- 
ple during the last two years. 

"The American Legion possesses 
great advantage for the display or for 
the exercise of the same patriotism with 
which you have been imbued during 
your service abroad, and it is the hope of 
all that you will enter upon your duties 
with the same integrity of purpose and 
the same resolute patriotism with which 
you conducted yourself on the battle- 
fields of France. Ours is a country of 
laws and not of men, and it should be 
the purpose of this organization to stand 
for laws based upon the sound princi- 
ples of the Constitution." 

"I should deplore it if I felt there were 
any chance of the American Legion be- 



212 



CHRISTIAN CY.NOSURE 



November, 1915. 



coming a political tool in the hands (0.f 
political aspirants. I believe the organ- 
ization has an opportunity to do a great 
good in the country by becoming a 
school of patriotism, if you will; by fos- 
tering those things which are near and 
dear to us as having come down to us 
from our forefathers. The American 
Legion has a glorious mission to per- 
form." 

WARNING TO THE LEGION. 

Sound and timely, in the opinion of 
the press, is General Pershing's warning 
to the American Legion, at the beginning 
of its drive for a million members, 
against permitting itself to become "a 
political tool in the hands of political as- 
pirants." At the same time the editors 
recognize the fact that the General's 
words refer entirely to future possibil- 
ities, and do not imply any partisan ten- 
dencies in the Legion's record to date. 
Nevertheless, notes the New York Even- 
ing Sun, the admonition gains especial 
impressiveness from the fact that Gen- 
eral Pershing himself is "the man who 
of all others might have reason to expect 
personal preferment" as the result of 
any political activities on the part of this 
organization of veterans of the Great 
War. "It is not true Americanism for 
any group or class to use its corporate 
strength to serve its own ends," declares 
the Newark News, which is confident 
that the American people welcome the 
Legion "as a force for true American- 
ism," but that "they will back Pershing 
to the limit as he draws the line over 
which it may not step." Heartily indors- 
ing General Pershing's further sugges- 
tion that this young organization should 
not only "keep its skirts clean and free 
of petty politics," but should become in 
effect "a school of patriotism" to "cher- 
ish and foster the lessons in patriotism 
that have been brought home to the 
American people during the last few 
years," the Philadelphia Inquirer says 
that "the American Legion ought to be 
one of the greatest forces for good this 
country has ever known ;" and the New 
York Evening Mail, agreeing that the 
Legion "has a glorious mission to per- 
form," goes on to say : 

"There are unmistakable signs that 
the American Legion has begun its be- 



neficent work on the lines indicated by 
General Pershing. We hope that it 
never will deviate from this inspiring 
course." 

"Organized and held together by the 
memory of a common service too big 
ever to let itself be used for sordid or 
partisan ends, too uncompromisingly 
American ever to listen to false doctrines 
that strike at the institutions to which the 
people of the United States owe their 
prosperity and progress," exclaims the 
New York Evening World, "what a 
power this organization can exert 
throughout the length and breadth of the 
land to keep all post-war changes safe 
and sane!" 

The initial organization of the Ameri- 
can Legion, whose potential membership 
embraces all the 4,800,000 American men 
and women enrolled in the Army, Navy 
and Marine Corps during the war, took 
place in Paris last March. In May it 
held a caucus in St. Louis. Last week 
President Wilson signed the bill incor- 
porating it, and at Minneapolis, on No- 
vember 10, 11 and 12, 1 91 9, it will hold 
its first great convention. When it be- 
gan its nation-wide campaign for a 
membership of a million, it already had 
350,000 men and women enrolled. In its 
first issue The Home Sector (New 
York), which is conducted by the for- 
mer editorial council of The Stars and 
Stripes, has this editorial word to say to 
the 4,800,000 in behalf of the Legion : 

"The Home Sector has no official con- 
nection with the American Legion and 
has but one recommendation to make re- 
garding the Legion. That is this : Join 
it. If you like the way the Legion has 
started out, if you think it is in good 
hands, if you believe it is sure to be a 
power for good in America — you will 
join it, of course. If you think it has 
stumbled in any of its first steps, if you 
suspect that, locally or nationally, it is in 
the hands of an unrepresentative lot, if 
you fear it is in danger of being mis- 
used for this or that political maneuver, 
then you must join it." 

— The Literary Digest, Sept. 27, 1919. 



He who passes by an opportunity to 
do good in order to find a better one will 
search in vain. 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



213 



MOST WORSHIPFUL MASTER. 

NOTE: When the word democratic or 
democracy is referred to in this article it has 
•no regard to the so-called Democratic party 
of this country; it speaks of the word in its 
broadest terms. 

"No title of nobility shall be granted 
by the United States. And no person 
holding any office of profit or trust un- 
der them shall, without the consent of 
the Congress, accept any present, emolu- 
ment, office, or title of any kind what- 
ever from any king, prince or foreign 
state. Article I, Sec. IX. No. 8, Consti- 
tution U. S. A. 1789." 

Here we come face to face with two 
fundamentals ; our God and our country, 
our Master's law and our Constitution. 
Whatever may be the conceptions and 
the aspirations of the officials of the va- 
rious lodge systems, it appears forcibly 
that practically all favour the "titles of 
nobility." In fact, allow me to state, 
that this is apparently one of the very 
important functions of the lodge; if it 
was omitted there would be little to fill 
the vanity of the eyes of men. One 
would be almost compelled to believe 
that people possessing titles of this char- 
acter would feel as treasoners to the 
American Constitution, and traitors to 
the country. Is it proper that inhabi- 
tants of this nation should form minia- 
ture governments of their own, which 
forms have never been assented to by 
Congress, and which is only known to 
the members of these orders? What 
fallacies, inconsistencies, and discrepan- 
cies may be existing in their mode of ex- 
ecutive control it is hard to estimate. 
However, we can rest assured that the 
granting of the titles is neither the 
greatest nor the least of the evils experi- 
enced therein. We would imagine that 
if the candidates for these degrees were 
fully aware of the history of titles from 
their earliest origin to their present state, 
they would throw up their hands in dis- 
gust, and cry "O, Democracy of the 
world, forgive us, for we know not what 
we do." Every really democratic nation 
will fight titles to the last man and the 
last ditch, and will build eventually 
against them a wall as high as the walls 
of Jericho ; and which walls will not fall 
to the picturey show of gaudy aprons, 
badges and scarfs, nor by the blowing 



of horns, nor the pounding of drums, 
carried on by the dwindling and whim- 
pering minority left in favor of the lodge 
system, even though these fraternities 
are in no way connected with state gov- 
ernment. 

There are people today who are reap- 
ing certainly where their forefathers 
had not sown: In 1789 their ancestors 
planted firm and sure their disapproval 
of titles of all kinds and varieties; but 
now we are confronted with lodges 
which are just as ready as not, to under- 
mine the government, without any one 
ever knowing anything about it. For the 
sake of preserving the glorious and im- 
mortal democratic laws and ordinances, 
won by our forefathers' blood we should 
lay down the gage of Christian battle to 
all who infringe on our rights, or who 
wish to bring us under the rule of autoc- 
racy; we must work for the triumph of 
liberty and civilization. We must get 
away from secular worshipful masters, 
away from the Knights of so-and-so, 
and get back to where all men are equal, 
where all are brothers and sisters. 

Little need be said upon the address 
given to certain lodge officers, frequent- 
ly noted, i. e., Most Worshipful Master. 
This term is often found in connection 
with the so-called religious fraternities; 
and how it can be used before the name 
of our Heavenly Master is not only baf- 
fling but stunning. As to what is consid- 
ered when such a term is used it is only 
necessary for us to revert to our knowl- 
edge of the English language. Most being 
a comparative adjective, it is made up of 
three degrees, i. much or many, ii. more, 
iii. most. Hence most being the highest 
comparison it may be naturally under- 
stood and assumed that "Most Worship- 
ful Master" is, to use the Kaiser's 
phraseology, the "All-Highest." Ac- 
cordingly are we to take Bro. John Jones 
as the excelsior peak of worship? 
Rather not ; not that we love John Jones 
the less, but Jesus MOST. But/ even 
though our knowledge of the English 
language may be incorrect, what does the 
Bible say about masters ? 

"Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is 
your Master, even Christ ; and all ye are 
brethren/' (Matt. 23:8). 

"Neither be ye called masters ; for one 
is your Master, even Christ. 



214 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



"But he that is greatest among you 
shall be your servant." (Matt. 2y. 10 
and il). 

"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye 
say well ; for so I am." (John 13 -.13). 

"No man can serve two masters; * 
* * Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 
(Matt. 6:24). 

Yet, men continue to attend the lodge 
before they would attend the church, and 
celebrate in the services of the Worship- 
ful Masters. Which Master do they 
serve? It is impossible to compromise, 
you must love one and despise the other. 
Then if the lodge brother is chosen what 
shall the ultimate end be? "Not every 
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; but 
lie that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21). We 
as covenanters with our Lord and Mas- 
ter must get away and be separate; we 
shall not compromise. 

Therefore, according to both Biblical 
and Constitutional law, we cannot op- 
pose too strongly such work as the grant- 
ing of titles, especially those of such high 
order as Worshipful. And in our opin- 
ion, which is of course debatable, it can 
well be said: 

If black is black, and white is white, 
In black and white it's down, 
They may be traitors to our God, 
And treasoners to U. S. A. renown. 
Vera Pro Gratiis. 



THE LODGE. 
Weighed and Found Wanting. 

Objections that might be raised from 
the viewpoint of all true religion against 
the fraternities here at bar are not a 
few, and of more or less weight. In 
this article, however, the writer aims to 
confine himself to such as, in his judg- 
ment, render affiliation with some, if not 
with all, of these fraternities utterly in- 
compatible with membership in a Chris- 
tian congregation. 

The line of argument pursued in the 
hearing is briefly laid down in the fol- 
lowing proposition : 

Societies, secret or open, militate 
against Christ and His Church when, 
and in so far as, they are justly charge- 
able with precepts and practices in their 
teaching, ceremonial and conduct which 
are plainly contrary to God's Word. 



Problematically stated as this thesis is, 
its conclusion will readily be admitted 
as entirely correct by all who acknowl- 
edge the Holy Scriptures as their rule 
of life; wherefore it only remains to be 
shown that the indictment in the prem- 
ises, and upon which conviction hinges, 
is a true and valid arraignment of the 
bodies on trial. 

When antagonizing these associations, 
on one point or another, we are not sel- 
dom put off with the retort that, the 
lodge being an oathbound secret body, 
an outsider can know little or nothing 
definite about its real character and do- 
ings. Fact, subterfuge or fib, be this 
what it may: there is, and common to 
them all, one distinctive and outstanding 
feature which is never denied, but rather 
is put forward as an alluring virtue, to- 
wit, that a belief in God is to the lodge 
an irremissible condition of member- 
ship and that worship is an integral 
part of its ceremonial. 

On the face of it this requirement 
seems to speak in favor of these organ- 
izations, and to commend them, as no 
doubt intended, to people religiously dis- 
posed. In stern reality, however, there 
is hardly another trait in their make-up 
and proceedings which, when tested by 
the standard of Holy Writ, so incon- 
troveritbly condemns them. Yes, did 
they demand a belief in the God of the 
Bible and in Him alone, then might we, 
other considerations set aside, come to 
a different and less adverse conclusion. 
But as the case stands, who or what is 
this God whom one must acknowledge 
and worship in order to qualify as a 
member ? Judging them by their hetero- 
geneous constituency and by their utter- 
ances on this vital subject, there is no 
escaping the inference that the supreme 
being confessed may be the God true 
or a god false, a being real or a being 
imaginary ; in fact, anything and what- 
soever each and every one appearing 
before his shrine may conceive him to 
be. 

The fact is that we are here brought 
face to face, as it were, with a prodigy 
set up as a divinity that beggars all de- 
scription, for to the Christian member 
of the lodge, if at all sincere, this God 
is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; 
whilst to his theist brother, he is the al- 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



215 



mighty maker and monarch of heaven 
and earth, but whether other and more, 
is left in abeyance ; to the deist, who de- 
nies all revelation except that of nature 
and reason, he is some undefined super- 
mundane personality ; to the pantheist, 
he is simply the universe, self-existing 
and self-governing by a force of its own 
eternal life and law, and attaining its 
highest perfection in man divine ;* last- 
ly and as to the agnostic, who in high re- 
gard for exact truth, as he says, will 
neither affirm nor deny the existence of 
a supreme being — though as occasion 
serves, he does profess to believe in one, 
— God is simply a question mark. What 
he is to the heathen member, and there 
are thousands of them, time would for- 
bid to indicate. 

Thus known to be at variance and 
diametrically opposed to one another, 
but agreeing to suppress what should be 
to them their most sacred convictions, 
these representatives of every known 
"ology," "ity" and "ism" in the religious 
world are nevertheless cheerfully given 
room in the temple of the lodge ; and 
gathered before its altar, they lift up 
their voice in prayer — in prayer the same 
in words, but in adoration of deities that 
may be anything from the Jah, say, of 
a Caiaphas down to the Joss of a Brah- 
min or Buddhist. Yes, and mingling 
with these devout worshipers, and as 
though in harmony with them, are seen 
our goody, goody Christians ! Thus 
miserably recreant to faith and duty, do 
these last named really expect Holy God 
to wink at this their flagrant denial of 
Himself and of His truth? O man of 
God beware, for the love of your soul 
beware ! 

Should any one, participating in such 
idolatrous services, feel himself pricked 
in conscience on account thereof and, to 
ease the twinge, say that the religion of 
those to the right and to the left of him 
is no concern of his, and that, as regards 
himself, he worships the true God, such 
an one ignores the fact that the religious 
profession and rites of the lodge have 

"•'Enquiring' of a member high up in both the 
Masonic and Odd-Fellow orders, and whom T 
knew to be an outspoken infidel, what God he 
professed to believe in when initated, he put 
his hand upon his breast, saying, "Self is my 
God!" And this is by no means an isolated 
case. 



been determined by an associated act ; 
and hence, for which he, as a party 
thereto, is responsible to God and man. 
And forewarned of the sin by the Word 
in his hand, most searching and severe 
he will find his trial. For refined as it 
may appear, an example of polytheism 
and of syncretism more insidious and 
distressingly hurtful than that exhibited 
in the lodge is found nowhere, no, not 
even in heathen lands. And this in plain 
defiance of Him who, jealous of man's 
love and bent on his welfare, solemnly 
declares: "I am the Lord thy God; thou 
shalt have no other gods before me." 
Moreover, "Who is the liar but he that 
denieth that Jesus is the Christ. This 
is the antichrist, even he that denieth the 
Father and the Son. Whoever denieth 
the Son, the same hath not the Father: 
he that confesseth the Son, hath the 
Father also." i John 2, 22, 23. And so 
again, '7 am the Lord, that is my name; 
and my glory will I not give to another." 
Isa. 42, 8. And just here : does not the 
Christian know that his Lord and Savior 
says : "No man cometh unto the Father, 
but by Me," and that by joining in wor- 
ship with his Christless brethren, he 
makes those believe that they have ac- 
cess to God as well as himself? 

Then, and explanatory of the first 
commandment, we read: "Thou shalt not 
make unto thee any graven image, or 
any likeness of anything that is in heaven 
above, or that is in the earth beneath, 
or that is in the water under the earth" 
— i. e., for to worship them. Exod. 
20:4. Now if so to do is idolatry, is it 
any the less idolatrous to pray to and 
ascribe divine honor to any creation of 
some man's brain, as is done in the re- 
ligious exercises of the lodge? But all 
their assertions to the contrary notwith- 
standing, in every truth they have not 
God : yet worshiping some deity I defv 
any man to say whom or what they bow 
their heads to. 

* * * 

Found woefully wanting when put to 
the crucial test of the first table of the 
Law, how does the lodge measure up to 
the demands made upon us by the 
second ? 

In answer to this inquiry, it is to be 
readily admitted that, due mostly to a 



216 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



sense of right and duty still innate in 
the natural man, the lodge both teaches 
and insists upon filial obedience, purity 
of intercourse, citizen loyalty, honesty 
in dealing, kindly affections, mutual 
helpfulness, care for the fatherless, and 
upon many other civic virtues, such as 
make for a righteousness and usefulness 
in life. Estimated solely by its own 
moral code, its members, both individ- 
ually and collectively do much good, 
such as is ordinarily accounted of as 
good, and in so far the community-at- 
large is profited by them. 

But the praise of good works of the 
kind mentioned freely and gladly ac- 
forded them, this dare not blind us to 
the fact that, when our Savior declares 
the Law to be comprehended in the one 
word "Love", it is to godly love this high 
distinction is ascribed ; in other words, 
only when sanctified, "love is the ful- 
filling of the Law." And moreover, be- 
cause our sanctification is never wholly 
perfected in this life, our works, to be 
acceptable unto holy God as the fulfill- 
ment of His Law must be done and of- 
fered Him in the name of His Son, by 
whose merits all our shortcomings are 
covered. Put to this scriptural test, it 
plainly follows that the lodge, all ap- 
pearances to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing, is in its last analysis not fruitful of 
good works ; nor can it be, since, by its 
own election. Christ and His Gospel, 
the one and only source of a godly life, 
are precluded from its teachings. And 
thus again the dread sentence applies, 
"Weighed, and found wanting." 

Thus found worse than wanting, 
would to God that we might here rest 
the case ; but there stands against them 
a count more serious than any hitherto 
brought forward, and one which shows 
their condemnation to be just beyond all 
doubt. 

(To be continued.) 



35eto$ of 0uv Wovk 

At a recent meeting of the Board of 
Directors of the National Christian As- 
sociation, I was asked to assist in get- 
ting out the November number of the 
Christian Cynosure, in order to give 
Rev. W. I. Phillips an opportunity to go 
East on a trip in interest of the Associa- 
tion. We pray God's blessing upon him 
while on his mission for the Master and 
His Kingdom. 



Take my life and let it be 
Consecrated, Lord, to thee; 
Take my hands and let them move 
At the impulse of thy love. 
Take my love, my God, I pour 
At thy feet its treasure store, 
Take myself, and I will be 
Ever, only, all for thee. 



ITEMS FROM SECRETARY PHILLIPS. 

The N. C. A. Directors at their last 
Board Meeting instructed Secretary 
Phillips to visit New York state in N. 
C. A. interests and it also secured Rev. 
A. H. Leaman as Editor for the Cyno- 
sure for November. 

Rev. Mr Leaman is pastor of the Men- 
nonite Church, where the Annual Meet- 
ing and Convention of the Association 
was held last June. He is also the 
Chairman of the N. C. A. Board of Di- 
rectors. When one needs to get some- 
thing done he gets a man whose hands 
are already full. That applies in this 
case ; Brother Leaman is a busy man. 
His request that I write something for 
the November Cynosure is thus com- 
plied with. 

I wish, however, to say a few words 
concerning my trip East. My first stop 
was in Otsego County, New York, one 
of the most beautiful landscapes in the 
United States — I came near saying in 
the world — but that would be going be- 
yond my knowledge. 

Schuylers Lake. 
The testimony given at Schuylers 
Lake was without a special incident, but 
the work is not without effect. The 
Masons, I was told, have recently tried 
very hard to secure as a member an in- 
fluential young farmer but without suc- 
cess. Let us hope that many men and 
women have been and will be saved as a 
result of the work instituted by the late 
Byron Tunnicliff. It is his benefaction 
that enables us to keep the standard 
raised in this county against the most 
subtle system of idolatry to be found in 
the United States. 

The aged Mrs. George Turner con- 
tinues her friendly interest in the N. C. 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



217 



A. work and its agents. She wished es- 
pecially to hear from Secretary Stod- 
dard. A friend of the Cause living in 
the County was secured to oversee the 
work in this section in the future. 

The first time that I did work in this 
county I stopped at noon at a farm 
house and when the door opened I was 
confronted by a large, florid faced man 
to whom I said, "Can I sell you a 'hood- 
wink' and a 'cable-tow'?" "No," he re- 
plied, "I've got all the hood-winks and 
cable-tows that I want." I said, "I was 
only joking, what I want is to purchase 
a dinner." He invited me in and I said 
to him, "I suppose you are a member of 
a Masonic Lodge near you." "Yes," he 
said, "but I do not attend. They are a 
set of thieves and scoundrels." Soon 
he said, "The principles of Masonry, 
sir, are all right if they were only lived 
up to and are calculated to make men 
honest." "Oh," I said, "I know what 
you refer to. It is this obligation in the 
Master Mason's Degree. 'Further, that 
I will not cheat, wrong or defraud a 
Master Mason's Lodge, nor a brother of 
this degree knowingly'." "Don't you 
see," I said, "that that obligation does 
not make men honest nor tend in that 
direction. You could cheat my eye- 
teeth out without breaking your obliga- 
tion simply because I am not a Mason." 
His wife spoke up and said, "No, sir, it 
does not even make the Masons honest; 
my husband bought his groceries before 
going to the lodge, knowing that the 
stores would be closed before the lodge 
adjourned and he carried them up into 
the lodge. But when he went to get 
them at the close of the session he found 
that some Brother Mason had stolen 
them and he never got them back." 

So far as I have evidence they have 
ceased stealing from their Brother Ma- 
sons especially during lodge sessions. 
Doubtless that is an indirect effect of 
the N. C. A. work. The little tracts dis- 
tributed from house to house are silent 
preachers but effective. 

Charles G. Finney's Home. 

Providentially I was delayed one 
night in Adams, New York, and was en- 
abled to attend prayer-meeting and give 
my testimony in the same room where 
Charles G. Finney attended both before 



and after his conversion and wonderful 
spiritual experiences. A large portrait 
of Finney hangs on the wall of the 
room. "Finney's Autobiography" and 
"Revival Sermons" are in demand to-day 
as well as his book "Finney On Ma- 
sonry." What a striking illustration is 
this of the saying that man's work does 
not cease with his life. 

The number at the prayer-meeting 
was small. In the early morning I took 
occasion to put a good testimony in each 
house in harmony with that of the illus- 
trious and godly Finney who here re- 
nounced Masonry as soon as he received 
Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

Before returning to Chicago I visited 
our friend, Mrs. Philomela T. Wood- 
ward, who has so faithfully continued 
the work and testimony of herself and 
husband since his home-going. I also 
had a restful Sabbath at the home of 
Mr. Ozias N. Barnes of Fayette, Ohio, 
who is delightfully situated and cared 
for in his own home by a good brother 
and sister of the Radical U. B. Church, 
whose names this moment cannot be re- 
called. I am very grateful to God for 
the fellowship with other good friends 
during the week of absence and especial- 
ly for the season spent at the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Todd, of Hart- 
wick Seminary, New York. 

W. I. Phillips. 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

October 12th was an uplifting day in 
the Free Gospel Church at Corona, Long 
Island. The writer had freedom in the 
morning, preaching from the words 
"Consider Him !" The pastor preached 
a heart-searching sermon in the evening, 
the text being "Is thine heart right?" 
Those who consider only such things as 
may be found in the newspapers are 
very liable to commit suicide or join 
some lodge like the "Pink Goats." A 
careful, prayerful consideration of the 
divine always lifts and cheers. 

The past month has been crowded 
with unusual blessings for me. I have 
been able to enter only part of the open 
doors for service, but find I was privil- 
eged to speak twenty-six times, and in 
most instances to large audiences. Over 
one hundred new subscriptions were se- 



218 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



cured for the Cynosure. Collections 
aggregated $182.99 with more promised. 
None of the churches aiding our work 
contribute more kindly or so largely as 
the Christian Reformed. I do not write 
this to reflect on others giving kindly 
aid, but to give honor where it is due. I 
spoke to Wesleyan Methodist, Free 
Methodist, Lutheran, and other churches 
favorable to the N. C. A. cause, but the 
larger number of my addresses this trip 
were given in churches of the Christian 
Reformed faith. 

While in Detroit, Michigan, I looked 
up Sister Lizzie Woods Roberson, whom 
I found earnestly contending for the 
faith in large meetings among the 
colored people. Detroit's colored popu- 
lation, as in many Northern cities, has 
been largely increased. Like many other 
Americans they grow restless and hunt 
for a place where they may have the 
most money and the greatest peace. If 
Detroit does not improve on the lodge 
line, it will not be because many of the 
people have not heard the facts regard- 
ing them. 

The greater part of my time in Sep- 
tember was given to work in Grand 
Rapids, Michigan. I spoke eleven times 
while in that city, and probably declined 
as many invitations for lack of time. I 
found Calvin College opening with en- 
larged enrollment and a new President. 
As I was proceeding to the platform in 
company with President Hiemminga the 
students were applauding. I judged 
they were cheering their new President, 
but he turned to me and remarked, "It's 
for you they are applauding." It was 
an inspiring sight to see five hundred 
young ladies and gentlemen gathered to 
secure ammunition to be used against 
the lodges and other evil things which 
they must meet in life's conflict. In the 
same school I was given an hour in 
which I used my chart to turn the Ma- 
sonic Lodge "inside out" before the 
theological class. They got at least a 
glimpse of the inwardness of the institu- 
tion to which they must give attention 
if they practically proclaim the Gospel 
in their age. Space does not permit me 
to mention the kindly entertainment and 
enthusiastic meetings in the Christian 
Reformed churches welcoming my ef- 



forts. Their contributions have been 
reported to the N. C. A. headquarters 
and will be duly acknowledged. It is 
my hope to respond in the not distant 
future to the calls of some of the 
churches I could not visit on this trip. 

By the use of an auto I was enabled 
to address four congregations during the 
Sabbath spent in Holland, Michigan, 
and thus have a hearing before some 
two thousand souls. A great day was 
that ! 

For a week night the attendance at 
my lecture given in the First Christian 
Reformed Church, Kalamazoo, Michi- 
gan, was good. The pastor thought 
more should have attended. He is ac- 
customed to large congregations. My 
coming had been anticipated at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and every opportunity to 
give me the best possible had been se- 
cured. I had much pleasure in giving 
four addresses, the last being before a 
club of young men who asked several 
questions. The address given them was 
very informal, arguments they might 
need were presented. En route for 
Washington I visited a mission at Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, where Brother 
Blues has charge. He was not so blue 
as his name might indicate. He insisted 
that your agent address those gathered, 
notwithstanding my declination on ac- 
count of being tired. I really felt some- 
what rested after my speech. On reach- 
ing Washington, D. C, I found that 
wife and all the household belongings 
had moved to East Falls Church, Vir- 
ginia. Father's new desk, etc., had been 
put in order to welcome me to the new 
home. My stay could be but brief as I 
must hasten to appointments in Charles, 
County, Maryland. On Sabbath, Octo- 
ber 4th, I worshipped in the Quaker 
Church at Hughsville, Maryland. The 
spirit moved me to speak of lodge folly. 
I found plenty to eat and good cheer 
among these friends. 

Since coming to New York and vicin- 
ity I have been chiefly engaged in "lin- 
ing up" meetings to be held. A "drop 
in" talk was given in connection with a 
prayer meeting at Englewood, New Jer- 
sey. Another in connection with the 
Star of Hope Rescue Mission at Pater- 
son, New Jersey. The Star of Hope 
Mission has been fortunate in securing 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



219 



a large building and has been neatly 
fitted for the great work it is destined to 
accomplish. Sinners will there be told 
that lodge sins must be forsaken as well 
as all other sins. The "Prodigals" that 
there return to father's house must not 
bring any of the pigs with them, — they 
must be left with the husks. To-morrow 
evening, October 14th, I speak, the Lord 
willing, in Passaic, New Jersey. The 
following evening in Brooklyn, New 
York. My plans include a trip to Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts, and some New Eng- 
land work. Let us pray that God may 
raise up more workers in this needy 
vineyard. Paul Rader of the Moody 
Church, Chicago, is reported to be do- 
ing a great work here closing with a 
great Convention of the Christian and 
Missionary Alliance friends. By special 
invitation I have a pleasant home while 
in this section. Brother Chas. A. Lag- 
ville was a great Mason and was fast 
becoming a great drunkard when he 
found the Lord and gave up his evil as- 
sociations to follow Christ. I could but 
contrast his present delightful home with 
the one where I first found him. There 
would have been no fine auto to carry us 
to the Free Gospel Church had he con- 
tinued with his old Masonic friends. 
God can make men out of "Elks" or 
"Moose" if they will only give Him a 
chance. 



HOW A MINISTER GOT FOOLED. 

Not very long ago I had the pleasure 
to hear one of the finest sermons ever 
preached, so far as my recollection goes. 
It was one of those gripping, eloquent 
masterpieces of practical wisdom, given 
in connection with the text, from which 
no one could escape. 

The minister I refer to who preached 
the sermon in one of our modern West- 
ern cities, dwelt especially upon the fact 
that so many Christians nowadays sell 
their Master for a few dollars, as Judas 
did. He called upon everyone of his 
audience to sacrifice all for the glory 
which is to be revealed to those who 
deny themselves for Christ's sake. I was 
taken captive, once more, for divine 
service ! 

After the treat, in a spiritual sense, I 



shook hands with the pastor of this big 
congregation and said: "Of course, you 
don't belong to any secret society, do 
you?" The answer came frankly: "I 
am sorry to say, I do!" The next morn- 
ing I called up the gentleman by 'phone 
and told him that I would like to see 
him, if he were not too busy, since I 
was afraid I might have hurt his feelings 
by putting that question to him inside of 
the Sanctuary. He answered : "Yes, 
and I want to see you!" So my way 
was clear. 

I said : "And to what lodge do you be- 
long, my brother?" "To the Elks," was 
his reply. I said : "How is it possible 
that a man of your convictions can 
stand to be yoked up with the Elks? If 
you were a Mason, the gravest of them 
all, I wouldn't be so surprised, but the 
Elks ! I have so often watched them 
closely in my travels and in their car- 
navals and talk. Just think of it, the 
Elks !" As he knew that I had the right 
to lecture for the N. C. A. and that I 
was quite informed upon the secret em- 
pire, he gave me his confidence and his 
heart's trouble. 

I then said : "And what did you see 
when you were initiated ?" He said : 
"I'll tell you, brother, but you can't 
mention my name when you do talk 
about it as you know my position in this 
city." And I answered : "All right." 

"You see," he want on, "I need much 
recreation in order not to break down 
under the heavy strain of my work. A 
brother minister of mine advised me to 
join the Elks, so that I might have free 
access to their fine gymnasium. After 
thinking the matter over for a long time, 
I went in. But think of that initiation ! 
Why I just abhor the thought of going 
through all that stuff — not fit for the 
street fellows — and then I, a minister of 
the Gospel, to submit myself to all that. 
Why, I'll never go in that lodge room 
again ! !" 

"Fine," said I, "but, my brother, you 
must break with your Elk brethren. You 
know they are the most worldly set of 
fraternity men you can find. They are 
getting hundreds of members into their 

lodge in this city by saying, 'Rev. H- 

joined us and he is one of the best min- 
isters of the city and of the state, and 



220 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



if anything were wrong with us he sure- 
ly would not have joined us !' " 

"Well," said he, "I have never looked 
at it in that way and I'll study the mat- 
ter, read your tracts and the Cynosure, 
and I do solemnly promise you, if I get 
to see things about this lodge system as 
you do. I will break with them and tell 
them so." 

Thousands of ministers of the Gospel 
are in the same fix. They were utterly 
disgusted at their initiation. And those 
first meetings with the brethren cut their 
souls to the inner parts of it. Their eyes 
are opened now ! But they dare not 
resign their membership. They wear 
the emblem. They talk the silly talk 
when the fraternity man is "so nice" to 
them. They hear the Spirit gently say- 
ing : "Come out, man ! Just one more 
step, I ask of thee !'" But they fail to 
take this one step. They do as Wash- 
ington did: join, keep out of the lodge 
room, abhor the oaths, the parties, the 
dances, the silly talk, but never say : "In 
the name of Jesus Christ, I break with 
you and separate myself from your 
Christless institution !" 

And the Mason or Odd-Fellow or Elk 
or Woodman or Owl goes on to ad- 
vertise the good professor or minister or 
elder who is also "a member in good 
standing of our lodge." 

The minister got fooled, and, what is 
worse, now he is fooling others ! O the 
awful inconsistency of our Christian 
leaders and spokesmen, to preach the 
Gospel in the church on Sunday and 
deny the essence of the same Gospel on 
Monday ! 

May the Lord be merciful in the day 
of judgment to these men who have 
fooled precious souls into perdition ! 

With Christian love and sympathy, 
J. B. Van den Hoek. 

Volga, South Dakota. 



"LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER." 

Dear Cynosure; 

I am still on the firing line for the 
Master. We had splendid meetings for 
ten days in Detroit, Michigan, and they 
surely stirred the Devil. One always 
finds that to be the case when you speak 
against the Lodge for it is the Devil's 
church. You can say anything you please 
against the Church of God and the Devil 



will smile with satisfaction and not say 
a word, but when you begin to tell about 
the secret work of the lodge he is ready 
to rise up in defence of it. Many white 
and colored people attended our meet- 
ings and when things we said did not 
please the worldly crowd we took the 
Word of God and made it plain to them. 

On the twelfth of September we left 
Detroit for Norfolk, Virginia, to attend 
the State Holiness Meeting which was 
to begin on the 14th and last for ten days. 
While in Norfolk I lectured in the even- 
ings and taught Bible classes in the after- 
noons. Many were saved from their sin. 

The day after the State Meeting 
closed, Dr. Charles S. Morris made me 
welcome in his church. He could not 
be with us that evening and so turned 
the service over into my care. Dr. Mor- 
ris found it necessary to go to the depot 
to see his son, Charles S., Jr., off to 
school. Mr. Morris, Jr., is liked and 
well spoken of by the good people of 
Norfolk. I noticed in the paper the 
next day that Dr. Morris' son is attend- 
ing Wheaton College, of which Dr. 
Charles A. Blanchard is President. We 
need more young men and women to at- 
tend the Wheaton College, that they may 
learn what a great sin it is to be bound 
in the snares of secretism. I know who- 
ever comes in touch with Dr. Blanchard 
or Wheaton College will be taught the 
dangers of the lodge evil. Dr. Charles 
Morris is now. the President of the old 
Boydton Institute of Boydton, Virginia. 
Years ago this was a great school for 
southern white people but it is now a 
Bible Training School and the faculty 
is composed of white and colored teach- 
ers. I am sure the work will go for- 
ward under Dr. Morris' direction as he 
believes in a whole Gospel and is a grad- 
uate of the oldest Baptist seminary in 
New York state and was also at one 
time a missionary in Africa. The Church 
of God in Christ, of which I am a mem- 
ber, expect to give their undivided inter- 
est to this training school. 

At Campstela, Virginia, I held meet- 
ings for eight days, teaching the women 
and children during the day, and in the 
evenings we had services for everybody. 
On Saturday night I distributed tracts 
and sold many copies of "Freemasonry 
at a Glance." While I was teaching the 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



221 



^Sunday School lesson the following day 
J noticed in the rear of the church a 
number of men looking at me in a kind 
of curious manner and to my surprise I 
learned they were Worshipful Masters 
from the various Masonic lodges in Nor- 
folk and Campstela, Virginia. They had 
:seen the books and tracts I had given 
<out the night before and it stirred them 
-so that they came to see if I had any 
.more Masonic literature to sell. When 
ihey told me the books contained their 
secrets I said, "Don't you know you are 
in danger of having your throat cut from 
<ear to ear when you admit those books 
contain. the secrets of Masonry? When 
you were sworn in as a member of the 
Order you promised never to paint, or 
iprint, or carve, or let anyone know the 
secrets. Now if I report you to head- 
quarters you are liable to get your heads 
smote off and your brains exposed to 
the scorching rays of the meridian sun." 
Then I opened my Bible and went after 
those Masons with the Word of God un- 
til they became so uncomfortable they 
got up and left the meeting. After they 
had left another man came in to the 
service and asked if he might speak to 
me and upon talking to him I learned 
he was looking for a Masonic ritual. I 
told him my supply of books was ex- 
hausted and that I had no more on hand, 
but if he would give me his name and 
address I should gladly see that his or- 
der was taken care of. He said, "Oh, 
no lady, I just thought you had some 
books on hand." Then I said to him, 
"You Masons ought to be more careful 
and not give away your secrets like you 
have been doing to-day. You are all 
uncler a death penalty." He said, "I did 
not say your books have the secrets of 
Masonry. I just wanted to see one of 
them." This man was a preacher and 
Worshipful Master of a Masonic lodge 
and there he was with a big cigar in his 
mouth trying to defend the Devil and his 
works. If he was a true follower of 
Christ he would have been in his church 
teaching the people to repent their sins 
and serve God. When I finished talking 
to him he was so dumbfounded to learn 
I knew the secrets of Masonry that I 
could not help but smile to think that 
such educated men as he and the others 
who had been to the church in the morn- 



ing, were so full of the Devil's dope that 
they were foolish. (Ezekiel 12:3.) Truly 
they are foolish when they try to keep 
a secret and then come before a whole 
church full of people and admit to the 
charges made. They don't know how to 
protect the Devil's tricks after all. 

At the Sunday evening service people 
came in swarms. Some of the lodge 
people came in to the meeting while 
others stood outside and grumbled so 
loud I could hear them. I told them that 
their God of secrecy was causing all the 
riots between the people and that their 
God says "bind yourselves together for 
protection" when the true and living God 
says, "Pray for all men that we might 
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all 
godliness and honesty" (2 Tim. 2:2) but 
the people will not do what God says. 
If all the preachers in the land would 
get busy and preach the Gospel of the 
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 
conditions would change for the better. 
When I was ready to leave Campstela 
that evening, some came to me and put 
money into my hand and said, "We have 
never heard the Bible taught as you have 
been teaching it. Everything was told 
so plainly until we were bound to un- 
derstand. We wish you could stay 
longer with us." Oh, Christian, just 
think of all the intelligent and learned 
people we have among us and yet there 
are only a few that have a full knowl- 
edge of God and know how to obey His 
Word. Think of the people, white and 
colored, who are fighting and yet a ma- 
jority of them belong to a church. There 
must be something wrong with their pas- 
tor or else these people have not given 
themselves up entirely to God. If they 
were holy people then this bloodshed 
would stop. God help that the women, 
colored and white, will keep out of these 
riots and instead pray, "for the eyes 
of the Lord are over the righteous and 
his ears are open unto their, prayers but 
his face is against them that do eyil." 
(1 Peter 3 :i2.) 

Yours for Him who said, "Men ought 
always to pray" (Luke 18:1). 

Lizzie W. Roberson. 



No one ever wanders where a promise 
of God's Word does not follow him. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



November, 1919. 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT. 
REV. F. J, DAVIDSON. 

New Orleans has been almost entirely 
under secret lodge influence the past 
month. The Elks had their rampage and 
galla day for almost a week; the Shrin- 
ers had their outing for several days ; 
the Catholic Knights, the Knights of 
Pythias, the Masons, and the Odd-Fel- 
lows, all have had funeral parades. The 
Knights and Daughters of Love of 
America held their Grand Annual Ses- 
sion at St Mark's Baptist Church of this 
city. Beautiful and costly uniforms, 
plumed hats, caps and helmets, adorned 
the paraders with bands of music as in- 
ducements to get the people to join these 
secret fraternities, and night balls and 
revelries marked the closing of nearly 
all of these parades. 

There are efforts on foot in New Or- 
leans to unionize every branch of labor. 
There are even whispers of swearing all 
ministers into a ministerial union, as a 
claim for the advancement and better- 
ment of the ministry. 

It seems as though lawlessness and 
mob violence are fastening their grips 
upon America to such an extent until 
neither life nor property are safe. The 
lynching of a Negro in Omaha, the at- 
tempt to lynch the Mayor of that city; 
the lynching of three Negroes in Mont- 
gomery, Alabama ; and the unionizing of 
the police force in several northern and 
southern cities, all spell drifting toward 
barbarity and the forsaking of the Lord 
of Hosts. There are vicious bad and 
lawless Negroes as well as lawless whites 
but is not the law's strong arm sufficient 
to punish all violators? Crime begets 
crime and mob violence will never check 
crime of any kind but only make it worse 
and arouse the sullen and animal nature 
of the persecuted to a higher degree. As 
long as Governors, Senators, Congress- 
men, Legislators, Judges, Jurors, Police- 
men and other sworn servants of the 
people, who enforce and maintain law, 
are secretly sworn under diabolical pen- 
alties to protect their secret lodge com- 
rade, just so long will lawlessness of 
every kind flourish. The church has al- 
most lost its power and influence for 
spiritual good as a result of binding it- 



self to worldly institutions for financial 
and social considerations. 

Thank •God I am yet standing firm 
on the rock of His Word and preaching 
a saving gospel free from sin. The little 
Central Baptist Church, of which I am 
pastor, is still moving upward, though 
we have been forced to temporarily sus- 
pend building on account of funds. We 
have had some very flattering induce- 
ments from the lodge element lately pro- 
vided we would compromise the truth, 
but we have vowed unto the Lord to 
obey His Word, and we are sure He 
will help us. I earnestly ask the prayers 
of God's faithful in our behalf. God 
bless the National Christian Association, 
its workers, and Cynosure readers. 



WORD FROM NEW YORK. 

We read with great interest the let- 
ters of Brother Stoddard in the Cyno- 
sure and often wish we could attend the 
meetings he writes about, for they must 
be very interesting and helpful. 

About a month ago a brother belong- 
ing to our church left the Masonic lodge 
to which he belonged and later having 
heard that a Salvation Army Captain 
was proposed for membership in this 
lodge, he sent him a copy of the Cyno- 
sure containing Brother Herman New- 
mark's testimony. When this Salvation 
Army Captain read the contents of that 
Cynosure he withdrew his proposition 
and would not join the Masons. Praise 
the Lord ! 

You sow the seed and surely some 
falls on good ground. There is great 
consolation to know that you are di- 
rected and led of the Lord and you will 
surely hear him say to you, "Well done 
thou good . and faithful servant." A 
great many whom you know and also 
many whom you do not know will take 
you by the hand and thank you for steer- 
ing them clear of the traps and snares 
which Satan had put in their pathway. 
Brother and Sister Lagville. 



Liberty of conscience cannot mean 
liberty to do what I like. *■;■ * '* ;S 
is from my likings that I must be eman- 
cipated if I would be a freeman.-^/ 7 . D ( 
Maurice. 



November, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



223 



TESTIMONIES OF PASTORS 



REV. A. a DIXON, D. D. 

Pastor Ruggles Street 
Baptist Church, Boston 




DR. A. C. DIXON 



The society that displaces and opposes the church of Jesus Christ is not to be commended. A 
gentleman sometime ago asked me to preach a sermon under the auspices of a secret society which 
he represented. I learned from him that twenty-five years ago he was a member of a Christian 
church, but now he had nothing but criticism for the church. He insisted that secret societies, 

were doing the work of the church and doing it better. * 

* ■* 

The society that places itself before the church is an 
evil. I have known church members who, when there 
was a conflict between the lodge and the church, always 
went to the lodge. This sort of thing is honeycombing 
the church of Jesus. 

The society that sends men to heaven, just because 
they are members of it, regardless of character, is a power for 
evil in this world. 

A society that claims to be a philanthropic institution, 
when it receives more from dues than it expends on charity, 
deceives the public. 

A society that has coarse and brutal methods of initia- 
tion should not be encouraged. More than one man has 
been killed while being initiated into a secret order. 

The society, secret or public, which expels Jesus Christ, no Christian can afford to join. In 
some secret orders, Christ is excluded from certain degrees in order that Jews and infidels may 
become members. 

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled 
again with the yoke of bondage." — Gal. 5:1. 



REV. W. S. JACOBY 

Pasto/s Assistant of Chicago 
Abenue ( Moody ) Church 

T suppose I ought to know something about Masonry, as I 
bave taken many degrees in it and have been an officer of my lodge 
at Guthrie Center, Iowa. 

After my conversion to Christ the lodge lost its charm to me, 
and many lodge scenes seemed a mockery. So long as a man is in 
the broad road that leads to death, it may be the lodge is just as 
good a place as any, but I pity the poor, starved child of God who 
seeks comfort and strength from a society so largely of the 
Godless 




REV. W. S. JACOBY 



A PERPETUAL MONUMENT 

To 
Byron Tunnicliff of Schuyler's Lake, New York 

The late Byron Tunnicliff gave to the National Christian 
Association, Inc., Chicago, the means to enable it to place a 
printed testimony periodically in the homes of his village and in 
the homes in the country near it. This has been faithfully done. 
Every two years at least the people of his community are led to 
remember their old neighbor, Byron Tunnicliff. Isn't this 
better than to be forgotten, except as one's neighbors visit the 
cemetery? 

What do you think of such a memorial to your memory? 

Secretary Phillips refers to this Tunnicliff Monument in his 
letter in this number of the Cynosure. 



WOODMEN OF THE WORLD 

By BENJAMIN M. HOLT 

The author, Mr. B. M. Holt, was for many years a lodge member. He resigned his lodge- 
connection in all due form on account of scruples of conscience; he was not dropped on account 
of delinquency, but voluntarily resigned and received his regular "letter of dimisslon." 

The present treatise, which concerns itself with the "Woodmen of the "World in particular, 
shows almost exclusively from quotations of prominent "Woodmen, official publications, supply 
houses, and others, what the Woodmen teach and do, and points out wherein their teachings and 
practises disagree with Christian principles. The little booklet is sure to be of inestimable value 
In the hands of pastors and others that have occasion to warn a Christian brother against 
Joining a lodge, and should be available also in persuading those who have already taken this 
step, to leave the lodge. 

The little paper-covered book comprises 72 pages, size 5x7%. It contains four illustrations of 
secret society paraphernalia. The list price is 25 cents, 



Address NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 850 W. Madison St., Chicago 




VOL. LII. 




CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1919. 



No. 8. 



WHEN CHRIST IS BORN 



The silent skies are full of speech 

For who hath ears to hear, 
The winds are whispering each to each, 
The moon is calling to the beach, 
And stars their sacred wisdom teach 

Of Faith, and Love, and Fear. 

But once the sky the silence broke 

And song o'erflowed the earth ; 
The midnight air with glory shook, 
And angels mortal language spoke, 
When God our human nature took, 

In Christ the Savior's birth. 

And Christmas once is Christmas still; 

The gates thru which He came, 
And forests wild and murmuring rill, 
And fruitful field and breezy hill 
And all that else the wide world fill 

Are vocal with His name. 

Shall we not listen while they sing 

This latest Christmas morn, 
And music hear in everything, 
And faithful lives in tribute bring 
To the great song which greets the King, 

Who comes when Christ is born? 

■ — Phillips Brooks. 




OFFICIAL ORCJAN, NATIONAL CHRISTIAN AJTOCIATION 
10 CENTJ* A COPY EJTABLIJHED 1868 1.00 A YEAR 



Wheaton College Library 



VOL. LII. NO. 8. 



CHICAGO 



DECEMBER, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

850 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 



Memoriam: Mrs. C. G. Fait; Mrs. Laura 

L. Foster 241 

The Lodge, Weighed and Found Want- 
ing (concluded) 241 

A Word with the Fathers, by Martin G. 

Brumbaugh 243 

Wheaton Bible Conference 243 

Items of Interest from Friends 244 

Testimonies of Seceders 246 

Views on Many Topics * . . .247 

Matthew 18:19 for Watch Night, 1919'".. . .248 
News of Our Work: 

Holiday Offering 249 

Important Notice 249 

Comforting Words to Seceders 249 

Field Notes, by Secretary W. I. Phillips.250 
Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W. B. 

Stoddard 250 

Work in Nebraska, by Rev. O. F. En- 

gelbrecht 251 

"Lizzie Wood's Letter," by Mrs. L. W. 

Roberson 252 

Southern Agent's Report, by Rev. F. J. 

Davidson .254 

Contributions 254 

Testimonies of Statesmen 255 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE— Per year, in advance, $1.00; three 
months, on trial, twenty-five cents; single 
copies, ten cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897. 
iLt the Post Office at Chicago, 111., under Act of 
Marsa 3, 1879. 

e- — GENERAL OFFICERS. 

President, Rev. John F. Heemstra; 
PONTFNTS Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 

V^V^i^l IL.^*^ Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 

.. son; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 

lips. 
When Christ Is Born, poem Cover _____ — 

T^My IS p'oem .' .' '. \ \ \ I \ ! •* •' -" .' •' •' ' •' ^ BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

Perils to Democracy, by Rev. A. Aug- M p R Doennann, Thomas C. Mc- 

Li ^ rger ;;:;;;::. '.'.'/.'.'.'.V.'.'.'.'.'/.v229 Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 

Two Nights" in" a "Lodge Room, by Rev. p # A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 

M. L. Haney • gdo Q eor or e Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 

True Worship, by Rev. A. H. Leaman , .idl * « => „ H , , « u t 

\ Pastor's Experience with Lodge Mem- W. -bond, j. H. rioekstra ana tt. j. 

bers in Church, by Rev. Allen Crabtree.232 Kuiper. 

An Interesting Experience, by J. H - 

Should Christians' Belong 'to the Lodge?— LECTURERS. 

Tte"&e^« and Sailors Legion" 234 Those desiring lectures or addresses 

by Rev. P. Hoekenga 235 may write to any of the speakers named 

The Prince of Wales 236 below : 

The Secret Ritual of the A. F. of L— . _ n m , r> -p . 

The Fortnightly Review 237 Rev. W. B. btoddard, Box 94, Hast 

The Essence of Americanism— The Chris- ^ Falls Church, Virginia 

tian Statesman ................. -237 R j g y d Hoek, Volga, 

The Senate Steel Strike Inquiry, by Wm. ^ tSoW« 

I.Phillips 238 South Dakota. 

Collective Bargaining 238 R ev p J Davidson, 25 12 14th St., 

Is the Right to Strike an Unlimited Right? _ N Orleans, La, 

— Chicago Tribune ^y . ' 

Mr. Murphy, the Union, and His Porch. . .239 Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 

Injuries from Initiation 240 g^ Argenta, Ark. 

Rebellion in W. of W. Camp 241 t,, „ , n 1 wi^of™ T11 

The Tunicliff Memorial 241 Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 

— Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 
him: I spake 
openly to the 
world, and in 
secret have I 
said nothing. 
— John 18:20 



NO TIME TO PRAY. 

■"No time to pray !" 
Oh. who is so fraught with earthly care 
As not to give to humble prayer 

Some part of day? 

"No time to pray !" 
'Mid each day's dangers, what retreat 
More needful than the mercy seat? 

Who need not pray? 

"No time to pray !" 
Must care or business' urgent call 
So press us as to take it all, 

Each passing day? 

What thought more drear 
Than that our God His face should hide 
And say, through all life's swelling tide, 

"No time to hear !" 

— Selected. 



THIS IS MY TASK. 

"To love some one more dearly every 

day; 
To help some wandering child to find the 

way ; 
To ponder on some noble thought and 
pray, 
And smile when evening falls ; 
To follow truth as blind men long for 

light; 
To do my best from dawn of day till 

night ; 
To keep my heart fit for His holy sight, 
And answer when He calls — 
This is my task." 



Tomorrow you have no business with. 
You steal if you touch tomorrow. It is 
God's. Every day has in it enough to 
keep any man occupied without concern- 
ing himself with the things beyond. — - 
Henry Ward Beecher. 



PERILS TO DEMOCRACY. 

A. AUGSPURGER, PASTOR M E X X ( ) X I 'I E 
CHURCH, SAYBROOK, ILL. 

Society has for ages been passing 
through the great struggle of freeing 
itself from the domination, tyranny and 
despotism of selfishness, incorporated at 
times in a single individual, and at other 
times in groups of individuals. But past 
ages and struggles have failed entirely to 
solve the problem, and so the struggle 
continues. Every form of individual and 
corporate invention and intervention 
from the earliest experience of humanity 
down to the present age have given but 
temporary relief, and in the end only 
bitter disappointment. 

Just now we are placing great confi- 
dence in that form which we are pleased 
to call Democracy, as a remedy for all of 
our present social and political problems. 
W^e have just emerged from a great 
struggle, and at tremendous cost, in the 
attempt to make democracy safe for the 
world, and apparently democracy has 
won. But now after this great victory, 
from whence shall rise the power to make 
democracy safe for the world? for an 
unsanctified popular will may become as 
tyrannical as that of an unsanctified auto- 
crat. 

One of the underlying principles of a 
democracy is unity of purpose and action. 
"E Pluribus Unum." In order to make 
this "E Pluribus Unum" secure, it must 
be based on the highest ideals of justice. 
righteousness and equality. The early 
founders of our democracy had no other 
thought or purpose in mind when they 
laid its foundation, but that the principles 
underlying it would preserve this unit 
intact for all time to come. But has it ? 
In the early history of our democracy, 
when the population was not so dense, 
and just after the colonies had emerged 



228 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



from the terrible struggle, there naturally 
was born a unit which could not easily be 
broken. But since then things have 
greatly changed. Emigration speedily in- 
creased : social, political, religious and 
educational conditions have undergone 
great changes, not always for the better. 
until it has become quite evident that 
some disintegral and dangerous forces 
are at work which if not checked or 
remedied, will invite great disaster. This 
may not be admitted, and is even being 
denied by some of our ablest statesmen, 
but a mere denial of facts does in no way 
alter them, or disprove them, and it is 
well for us to observe what some of these 
are, not so much for the sake of exploit- 
ing them, but that a remedy might be 
sought. Neither should it be considered 
pessimism to point out the symptoms of a 
fatal malady, but rather an act to be 
received with gratitude and hopefulness. 

These disintegrating forces are numer-^ 
ous and it is the purpose of the writer not 
to go into detail, but to point out only 
what appeal to him as the major and 
most dangerous ones. First among the 
two which the writer has in mind is 
The Class Spirit. 

I do not now have in mind the rigid 
caste spirit of the orient ; yet there are 
few thoughtful people who will deny that 
the class spirit is becoming more and 
more evident as time passes, and growing 
daily in its boldness of open opposition 
to the present accepted forms and stand- 
ards of the political and social order. 

This class spirit has been very greatly 
intensified by the breaking up of society 
into innumerable social, political and 
fraternal associations and organizations, 
vying one with another in their lust for 
power. Just now we are in the throes of 
an upheaval between two of . these 
(unions and operators) distinguished 
classes, and which, we trust, will come to 
an amicable settlement. But this may be 
just the beginning of sorrows, and just 
the first outbreak of the dread malady 
which is at present underlying our whole 
social and political fabric, and which ten- 
dency, if not checked, will certainly in- 
vite disaster. Great statesmen may deny 
these facts, as suggested before. They 
may deny this class spirit, but that it 
exists is quite evident, and any mere 
denial does not change them. Therefore, 



one of the most alarming and disinte- 
grating forces of our democracy is this 
class spirit merging into class hatred. 

A democracy will never be safe with 
its citizenship broken up into innumer- 
able societies and fraternities, and whose 
educational influences are often conflict- 
ing. It does not take a prophet to fore- 
see what the ultimate result and conse- 
quence of such divisions if insisted upon 
must come to. These innumerable di- 
visions of society are perils in themselves 
sufficient to destroy democracy and turn 
it into anarchy. But this peril does not 
exist alone, and, as usual, has a twin, and 
this twin is found in 

A Compromising Church. 

The church is the only hope of democ- 
racy and of the world. The church is the 
only hope of a real "E Pluribus Unum." 
The church is the sanctifier of society; 
the only sanctifier of democracy; the 
only power that will make democracy 
safe for the world. Not so much by par- 
ticipating in world matters, but rather by 
attending strictly to her God-given mis- 
sion — that of saving the individual "Ye 
are the salt of the earth ; and if the salt 
has lost its saltness, whereby shall it be 
salted? It is henceforth good for nothing 
but to be cast out and trodden under foot 
of men." 

The church has one Lord, one Master, 
and she bows to no other, and serves no 
other ; serves best her own interest as 
well as that of others, and of the king- 
dom of God, by serving strictly, implicitly 
and without -reserve, her own master. 

The church, the beloved bride of 
Christ, we are sorry to acknowledge, has 
failed in some measure here. Yes, in a 
very large measure. We are sorry to say 
it, and it must be said to her sorrow, that 
like Samson, the strong man, she has 
been enticed to flirt with the Delilahs of 
the heathen, until she has been shorn of 
her power and made a mockery. 

The church has no power, no sanctify- 
ing power, only as she remains pure and 
separate from the world and worldly as- 
sociation. The old adage still holds good, 
"So long as the ship is on the ocean, all 
is well. But woe when the ocean gets 
into the ship. Then all is lost." The 
church is still the best thing that God has 
in this old world, and to her he is giving 
his greatest attention. But she has let 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



229 



down the high standards and ideals of 
her master, by courting the favors of 
ungodly association until she has not only 
lost her Saviour, but has greatly endan- 
gered her very existence. She is rich, 
clothed in purple and fine linen, and is 
wanting in nothing; and not aware that 
she has become the foot-ball of her un- 
godly companions. 

Abraham and Lot could no longer re- 
main in such close proximity while enter- 
taining such vastly opposing spirits, 
without greatly endangering each other's 
families ; so Abraham suggested a sepa- 
ration. We are all very familiar with 
the future history of these two families, 
and which are so suggestive of the apos- 
tasy from the true faith, that the appli- 
cation to the present spiritual condition 
of the church is not difficult. 

Will a democracy with the unsanctify- 
ing influences of innumerable Godless 
and Christless associations save us from 
the. perils of bolshevism, socialism and 
anarchy? The answer is quite evident. 
We have but one source to look to, and 
in which to anchor our hope — the 
Church. But when the church itself has 
become corrupted through its association 
and affiliation with ungodly and Christ- 
less associations, institutions and organi- 
zations, it certainly does not lessen the 
peril of these, but greatly intensifies it. 

I said in the beginning that it was my 
purpose to point out only in a general 
way what I considered the twin evils that 
are threatening our democracy and I feel 
that I have done that. They not only im- 
peril our democracy, but the very power 
which sanctifies it. "Crucify Him — and 
they cried all the more, crucify Him" ; 
and this was the ultimate consequence of 
an unsanctified popular will and that of 
an apostasized ecclesiasticism. If an un- 
sanctified popular will, and that of an 
postasized ecclesiasticism prefers to be 
under the dominion of a robber (Satan) 
rather than that of the king of kings, 
then they may have their chioce ; but 
what will the consequences be ? 

Is it not high time that we wake out 
of our sleep? Are we as a democracy, 
and as Christians, so soundly asleep un- 
der the dainty soothing hand of the Deli- 
lahs of ungodly association, that nothing 
will awaken us but the crying judgments 
of an offended God? Personally I have 



little hope of the church, for apparently 
she hath trodden the way of Delilah just 
a trifle too long. She may presently 
awake — and thank God she is awakening 
— -and at the last make a most desperate 
effort to free herself, and perhaps democ- 
racy ; but alas ! only to find her power 
gone, and herself hopelessly at the mercy 
of her enemies into whose hands she has 
been betrayed, and that without relief, 
until reinforced by power from on high, 
at the return of her Lord and King. Let 
use who love Him therefore not despair, 
but unceasingly keep looking up ; for our 
hope is in the upward look. 



LIGHT. 

If one is walking in darkness the 
thing most needed is light. It reveals 
the path and makes the way plain. It 
shows where the dangers lie; where ac- 
cidents are to be avoided ; where enemies 
lurk. It makes plain the world around. 
There are no dark, dangerous places to 
fear. No enemies can lie in covert. It 
is "light" that uncovers the world. It is 
light that makes plain the heavens. It 
is light that fills the room and enables 
us to do our duty. It is light that en- 
ables the engineer to take his train over 
mountain and plain. It is light that 
shows the miner the way into under- 
ground caverns and digs out riches to 
keep the wheels of the world in motion. 
The pilot turns his searchlight on the 
water and the river becomes a luminous 
highway for his groaning packet. He 
swings his vessel around the rocks and 
promontories and enables his passengers 
to sleep in safety. Light is God's great 
gift to the world. It brings cheer and 
hopefulness and prosperity to home and 
field and mine and mill. And the world 
is never without it. He made the sun 
rule the day, the moon and stars to rule 
the night. The sick man longs for the 
returning light. The man in health 
waits for God's sunshine to renew his 
labors. There is a balmier breath on 
hill and dale when the morning conies. 
There is a new song in the woodlands. 
The brook sings more rhythmically. The 
boys and girls go cheerfully to school or 
to play. Light, light ! "Let there be 
light." "Jehovah is my light and my 
salvation; whom shall I fear?" United 
Presbyterian, September, 1919. 



230 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



TWO NIGHTS IN A LODGE ROOM. 

REV. M. L. II ANEW 
(From "The Story of My Life.") 
| The following article has been issued in 
tract form but is now out of print. Rev. Mr. 
Haney is a minister of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church and having had many requests 
for his testimony on the lodge we herewith 
print it. Editor.] 

Iii the first part of the conference year 
(1849) two good men came to me urg- 
ing me to join a secret order to which 
they belonged. One of these was a local 
preacher much older than myself, and I 
had much confidence in him. The other 
was an experienced class leader, and 
both joined in saying they had a large 
number of young men in their lodge, 
and with my zeal for soul-saving, if I 
would join, I would get the whole lot 
saved. I knew but little on the subject 
and the bait these good men put on the 
hook enchanted me. I said, "You can 
take my name,'' and in due time I was 
accepted and the night of my initiation 
came. I saw nothing bad in the initia- 
tion, and some good things were said. 

I had been accustomed to special 
prayer and getting counsel from God on 
every important movement, but in this I 
took the counsel of the brethren. The 
Holy Spirit gave me no rebuke, and see- 
ing I was depending on my own head, 
He gave me time to learn by experience. 
The Second Night. 

Xext lodge night came round, and I, 
as a new convert, was on hand. I got 
my little apron, and sat down to take in 
the excellencies of my new brotherhood. 
I had not been seated long when the 
Holy Spirit suggested that I look around 
and see my brethren. I slowly and 
thoughtfully scanned the whole circle ; 
and to my surprise, there were the most 
profane men in the . city — drunkards, 
and vile characters — mixed up with a 
few good men. Having made the sur- 
vey, and considered the heart relations 
into which I was brought with these 
characters, the Holy Spirit, as by pen of 
fire, wrote these words upon my heart : 
"Come out from among them, and be ye 
separate, saith the Lord." 

I tarried not to confer with flesh and 
blood, but obeyed the heavenly vision, 
and at the earliest opening let those dear 
souls know that I could not stay with 



them and go with God ; took off my little 
apron, and have never seen it since. 
Nineteen Out of Twenty Fallen Ministers. 

That little experience has led me 
through all these years to a close obser- 
vation as to the whole subject of secret 
orders, or oath-bound societies. I have 
known many good men who have gone 
with them, but not one spiritual man 
who has not sustained serious loss by 
remaining. I have known many minis- 
ters whose path was a shining light be- 
fore they entered, but in no case have I 
failed to see that light grow dim in pro- 
portion as the interest in the lodge in- 
creased. I have known many ministers 
to fall disgracefully, and on inquiry, I 
think nineteen out of twenty were first 
in the lodge. 

The General Spiritual Effect. 

I have known many of the Lord's 
saints, who were in the lodge, brought 
into the experience of holiness; but have 
not known one who retained it, and re- 
mained in lodge fellowship. I have met 
thousands of boys and men who had a 
profound interest in the church, reading 
the Scriptures, the prayer-meeting and 
class-meeting, and all the means of 
grace ; but have not noticed one where 
such interest did not wane in proportion 
as his heart became interwoven with the 
lodge. 

I have seen the church prayer-meet- 
ing nearly desolate in every part of the 
country, because many of its members 
had their hearts divided with the lodge. 
I have demonstrated, in thirty years of 
evangelism, that it is well nigh impossi- 
ble to have a wide, deep, thorough re- 
vival of religion in any community, 
town, or city which has been honey- 
combed with the influences of the lodge. 
In my seventy-ninth year, and before I 
depart to God, I felt I must leave the 
above testimony. 

All Not Equally Dangerous. 

A secret assembly is not necessarily 
wrong, as there are cases where such 
are necessary. All so-called secret or- 
ders are not equally dangerous. There 
are a few temperance organizations 
which have their signs and passwords. I 
have been in them, but had to come out 
of them, and question seriously whether 
the cause would not be further advanced 
if they had not existed. There are secret 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



231 



societies for mutual financial benefit, 
which make no pretensions to heathen 
mysteries, which are far less dangerous 
than orders with such pretensions, and 
that substitute obedience to the rule of 
the order for the real worship of God. 

I OBJECT TO THE LODGE: 

1. Because it is a great waste of time 
and money. 

2. It exacts heart affiliation with 
wicked men, destructive of spirituality, 
and forbidden in the Word of God. 

3. It is a painful menace to the 
rights of men. It never has been true, in 
either church or state, where judge and 
jury are lodge men, that the lodge man 
and the anti-lodge man stand on equal 
footing. 

4. It is an open door to the shielding 
of wrongdoers. 

5. It is a painful barrier in the way 
of men being saved by the gospel. 

6. In a practical sense, with many ten 
thousands, it becomes a Christless re- 
ligion. How many say, when asked to 
seek God : "Well, I don't know about 
this: I belong to a good society now, 
and if I live up to its rules I will get 
through all right !" What active worker 
for Christ has not met that answer right 
and left? 

A Christian Lodge Impossible. 

There is no such a thing as a Chris- 
tian lodge. The ruling spirit of such 
orders is always worldly. Its spirit is 
of the world. No man has to be a Chris- 
tian to be a member. Its overwhelming 
majorities are unconverted. This being 
the case, every awakened sinner in the 
lodge, to become a Christian, has to stem 
the downward tides of his own nature, 
?nd the whole world-force of the lodge. 

Hence, but few people who are thor- 
oughly in lodge fellowship are found at 
the altar of prayer. In the white light of 
the judgment day it may be seen that no 
agency has hindered the salvation of so 
many souls as the lodge power of Amer- 
ica. 
Is It a Help or a Hindrance to Salvation? 

There is a mixture of truth with all 
systems of error, and some good inter- 
woven with the evil. There are splendid 
things in the system of religion called 
Unitarianism, which make it the most 
dangerous system of infidelity. If it were 



not for the sweetness thus mixed with 
the poison it could not exist. 

Error unmixed cannot long survive ; 
hence the policy of the enemy in all ages 
has been to intersperse good with evil, to 
give the evil a place. When a Congress- 
man attempts to force a wrong measure 
into National law, he is sure to connect 
it with some other measure that is right ; 
and if it is grossly wrong, he will iden- 
tify it with something that is indispensa- 
ble. Strychnine can be made very en- 
chanting to a child, with a thorough mix- 
ture of sugar. If no truth had been 
mixed with the errors of Mohammed, 
they would have died in fifty years. 

It is no proof whatever that any sys- 
tem is right because there is some good 
in it. If it can be shown that wherever 
the Lodge System is entrenched it is al- 
ways exceedingly difficult to get people 
saved from sin ; then, if salvation is right, 

THAT SYSTEM IS WRONG. But that is 

known to be so, by every minister of 
God whose life is solely devoted to the 
salvation of men. I have not the slight- 
est doubt that had I remained with the 
lodge, it would have ruined my ministry ; 
and I think I would have lost mv soul. 



TRUE WORSHIP. 

Man is so constituted that he must 
and will worship something. Hence he 
is not opposed to religion, but it must be 
a religion suited to his own proud and 
corrupt nature. Of man's religion, man 
himself is the center. His ground for 
hope is what he has done, is doing, or 
expects to do. In God's religion, Christ 
is the center, and it is what He has done, 
and is doing, that forms the ground of 
the only hope which will be recognized 
by God as genuine. 

My lodge friends tell me there are 
many ways of being saved, "If I am only 
sincere, God will accept me." Another 
says, "If I only live up to my lodge ob- 
ligations and perform the same, God will 
expect no more." While another says, 
"It matters not what a man believes, if 
only his conduct be right.'' 

The religion of the lodge is such as 
to give hope to its members, that is — 
that there is good in human nature, and 
by obligations and good works it can be 
cultivated and developed to such a state 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



that God will recognize the same and 
exchange it some day for a new nature 
Mich as is promised to saints after the 
resurrection. Jesus has set his face like 
a flint against this theory. He taught 
that it was not through self -re form, nor 
the mending and cultivating of the old 
heart, nor through good works without 
faith, but that an entirely new nature 
was required. You may cultivate a weed 
ever so much, but you cannot cultivate 
it into a beautiful flower ; you may polish 
brass ever so long, but you cannot polish 
it into gold ; and you may chisel a rough 
block of marble into the perfect like- 
ness of a human body, but you cannot 
put life into it. 

In like manner a man may be able to 
take the degrees of Masonry, he may 
know the lodge ritual perfectly, he may 
be among those in the highest circles of 
society and he may be educated, but 
without Christ and salvation he is eter- 
nally lost and is being deceived. You 
may put upon his lips the phraseology of 
religion and fill his head with lodge 
prayers, but should he be suddenly called 
into the presence of his Maker, he would 
recoil with horror as he hears, "Depart 
from me." 

The Church of Jesus Christ must 
learn that men are not saved in this 
fashion — the lodge way — but alone 
through Jesus Christ. The moment a 
soul believes in Jesus it springs into a 
new life — the life of God. 

Dr. Bonar has often related the ex- 
perience of a man who by the most per- 
severing efforts had tried to make him- 
self better. He doubled the amount of 
his devotions, he set up new~ideas of 
right, he engaged in the performance of 
many good words, saying "Surely God 
will give me peace now." But he learned 
his plans would not do and one day the 
thought came to him "Christ only will 
do." Instantly his whole soul was 
flooded with peace and joy and during 
the remainder of his life his motto and 
watchword was, "Christ will do." 

False worship should always be 
spoken against with authority. I am glad 
tor the Christian Cynosure. It goes 
out on its mission each month with the 
prayers of the publishers that it may be 
of help to men, not only to show them 
the dangers of worship as taught by the 



lodge, but also to lead them into the true 
Christian worship. 

A religion of assurance and not of 
doubt was that which the primitive 
church possessed. When persecution 
arose and scattered the Disciples abroad 
they could say, "We speak that we do 
know and testify that we have seen." 
When cast into gloomy dungeons, when 
dragged forth to bloody scaffolds, before 
the powers that be, it was not a poor, 
pitiful shivering doubting religion that 
showed itself in the victims, but a re- 
ligion that was strong, sturdy, and of 
vigorous faith that made each say, "I 
know in whom I have believed." 

The Church of Christ to be successful 
in the world must seek to get true wor- 
shipers, by preaching the truth and in 
helping men to come out from worldly 
organizations, such as lodges, etc. Let 
us hold the truth in righteousness and 
when the full light of eternity shall fall 
let it be said by the Master, "Well done, 
good and faithful servant, enter into 
the joys of thy Lord." 

A. H. Leaman. 



A PASTOR'S EXPERIENCE WITH 
LODGE MEMBERS IN CHURCHES. 

BY ALLEN CRABTREE. 

Upon request I am writing of a 
further experience of my own as a pas- 
tor having to do with lodge members in 
the churches where I have been called to 
preach the gospel of the grace of God. 
For more than nineteen years it has been 
my privilege in the Lord to preach the 
gospel and do pastoral work exclusively, 
after having had seven years' experience 
in mission and Sunday school work be- 
fore being called to the ministry. 

In the five localities where I have done 
pastoral work the problem of lodge mem- 
bers in the churches has been, without 
exception, the greatest of all problems 
with which I have been burdened before 
the Lord in daily prayer, because where 
I have found a man or a woman in a 
church who was a member of a lodge, 
that person has invariably proven to be a 
better lodge member than he or she is a 
church member. Then, too, it has been 
absolutely impossible to persuade the 
churches of which they are members to 
seriously consider the matter. Therefore, 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



233 



the only solution to my problems in this 
connection has been to so personally 
practice the presence of God in my own 
life and ministry, by constant prayer and 
meditation in His word, that I have been 
able to maintain a heart-separation with- 
out assuming a mechanical, or a pharisa- 
ical attitude toward any of my lodge- 
loving friends. I have thus far waged a 
victorious warfare and I trust to the 
glory of our crucified, buried, risen, 
glorified, and soon-coming Lord, as many 
precious souls have been saved, and the 
faithful saints have been built up in the 
most holy faith, despite the unspiritual 
influence always, and often the positively 
evil influence of the lodge members in 
the churches which I have served, in- 
cluding my present pastorate, which is 
unquestionably being hindered in spirit- 
ual growth and activity, although much 
church work and activity increases, for 
no other special reason. Yet, I am happy 
to say, at the beginning of my third year 
in the present pastorate that there are 
faithful ones in the Lord who are prov- 
ing more and more to have an operative 
faith, a laborious love, and a hope-filled 
patience in our Lord Jesus Christ and in 
the sight of God and our Father, who are 
waiting "until the day dawns and the 
shadows flee away." 



Pleasures which block the road to 
heaven ought to be given up. — Spurgeon. 



AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE. 

BY J. H. HOEKSTRA. 

The thought that more than one-half 
of our Protestant churches are spiritual- 
ly asleep calls to mind the parable of the 
ten virgins found in the thirteenth chap- 
ter of Matthew. The Church has been 
given warning to watch, and had it 
listened to the wise council of her 
Heavenly Father, sleep would not have 
overtaken her. The Catholic Church, 
however, is not asleep — she is wide- 
awake and with the secret societies is 
aspiring after the supreme rule of the 
universe. Both are fastly speeding to 
their goal. The one is using the other as 
a stepping stone. Today both are secret- 
ly organizing their strength, if it be pos- 
sible, to cast down the other, and tomor- 
row perhaps they may combine their 
powers in order to become as one might 



— the only ruling power of the earth. 
But as said before, today they are 
enemies wickedly attempting to destroy 
each other. As an illustration let me use 
the following: 

A few days ago the writer met an am- 
bitious young man. He was pumped full 
of hatred towards the Catholic Church, 
and was made to see the alarming 
strength of this church. Consequently 
he was full of fire to go the limit in 
opposing this institution. His motto 
seemed to be "Counteraction." To coun- 
teract the Catholic Church, he said, it 
was absolutely necessary for him to 
unite with Masonry. Proudly he pointed 
to his coat lapel upon which glistened 
the emblem of the order— put there only 
a few hours before. "Masonry," he 
proclaimed, "is the only thing which can 
redeem the world." I then gave him a 
few pointers as to what Masonry really 
is and he hotly informed me that I knew 
nothing about the order. I then asked 
him if I might relate a little incident 
which took place recently and he con- 
sented. 

A little time ago I happened to come 
in contact with a brilliant Chicago law- 
yer. This lawyer had inserted an ad. 
for a stenographer in one of the Chicago 
daily papers and my daughter, answer- 
ing it, had received a reply asking her 
to call at his office. The following day 
she asked me to accompany her to this 
office, which of course I gladly did. After 
the lawyer had talked over the matter of 
employment with her he asked me if I 
could comprehend why he advertised for 
a Protestant girl. My answer was, he 
did not care to have the Catholic priest 
and the Pope enlightened as to his busi- 
ness. "That is just it," he said, "for the 
Catholic Church opposes the laws of the 
land and is always exalting itself above 
it." "You said well," I answered, "but 
do you know there is another force 
which accomplishes the same?" "Why, 
no," he answered; "I do not know of 
such." I then said, "You belong to the 
organization accused by me, for Masonry 
nullifies the moral laws of God and men 
respecting the wives and daughters of 
non-Masons, while they must refrain 
from touching the wives and daughters 
of brother Masons. Again, your secret 
oaths compel you to protect the worst 



234 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



crook if he is a Mason — herein you also 
uproot the laws of God and of our great 
country, for you must defend and pro- 
tect him." 

Returning to the young man, I said, 
"This lawyer refrained from notifying 
me that I did not know anything about 
Masonrv. nor did he tell me that I looked 
through Catholic eye-glasses as you 
maintain I do." 

The young man said, "No matter what 
you say. I tell you Masonry is becoming 
strong and is today recruiting many 
members, even among the Hollanders, 
who are such strong anti-secretists." 
This unexpected statement then brought 
to my mind the parable of the ten vir- 
gins. Are even the wise sleeping, sleep- 
ing, sleeping? O Lord, hasten Thy com- 
ing and awaken Thy bride. 



SHOULD CHRISTIANS BELONG TO 
THE LODGE? 

The Rev. John Paul, D. D., professor 
of theologogy in Ashbury College, is 
among those who think not. He gives 
the following Scriptural reasons : 

( i ) In the average case it collides with 
the injunction to "be not unequally 
yoked together w r ith unbelievers." (2) In 
some orders, and in some auxiliaries of 
all orders that I have information about, 
one would be violating that passage 
which says, "Have no fellowship with 
the unfruitful works of darkness." (3) 
The time necessary to be a successful 
and useful lodge man, from the stand- 
point of lodge ideals, cannot be given by 
a man who is wholly consecrated to 
Christ, and if I were going to be a lodge 
man I should want to be the head and 
not the tail. What applies to secret 
lodges applies to many clubs. It is not 
the mere secrecy of the thing that in- 
volves the objection, excepting where 
that secrecy is a cloak for perfidy or 
crime, or is safeguarded by oaths which 
are irreverent or potentially wicked. If 
there is potential wickedness in the oath 
taken, a man cannot take the oath with- 
out the condemnation of God unless he 
is too idiotic to perceive the potential 
wickedness of the oath, nor can he be 
saved from that condemnation except as 
he recants and repents. 

— Wesleyan Methodist, Oct. 8, 1919. 



A SUPREME COURT. 

Some of our readers will remember the 
practical denial of the right of trial by 
jury by the Supreme Court of Nebraska 
in the case popularly known as the 
"Gandy-Bissell Case," in which the Na- 
tional Christian Association had an in- 
terest. One state in the Union stops its 
Supreme Court from remanding a case 
for retrial more than once if the jury 
trial decides the case twice the same ; and 
another state has a similar law forbid- 
ding interference by the Supreme Court 
when three trials by jury result alike. 

The right was so plainly on the side 
of the Bissell Estate in the case referred 
to above as the Gaudy-Bissell case, that 
in the five different trials the jury gave 
its decision in favor of Bissell. The Su- 
preme Court remanded the case for a 
new trial in every instance and in the 
latter times without giving any reason. 
The opinion of Mason as well as anti- 
Mason was that its action was dictated 
by fealty to obligations, which the Su- 
preme Judges were under to the lodge. 

At the present time the same court is 
with one exception composed of lodge 
members, who were elected to dispense 
justice for ah the people, but are under 
special obligations to their lodge breth- 
ren. The majority are Masons, and un- 
der this obligation, "I furthermore prom- 
ise and swear that I will answer and obey 
all due signs and summons sent me from 
a lodge of Master Masons or handed me 
by a brother of this degree, if within the 
length of my cabletow r ." 

A Georgia Illustration. 

In a letter dated October 31, 1919, 
from a minister in the state of Georgia, 
he quotes the following from one of his 
correspondents : 

"Dear Brother . I have just 

had two gentlemen jump upon me be- 
cause of your Masonic sermon Sunday 
afternoon. I know from what they said 
vou must have cut them to the quick. 
But in our Superior Court, which is now 
in session, we have just witnessed the 
truth of much you said in your anti- 
Masonic discourse. A cold blooded mur- 
derer was turned practically loose. I 
heard it said the morning he went to trial 
that he would be set free because he was 
a Mason, because nearly all of the jurors 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



235 



were Masons. They are trying another 
murderer today and many are proph- 
esying the same results. Sometimes I 
think these secret oath-bound societies 
are the 'beast/ with the marks in hand 
and forehead, as spoken of in the book 
of Revelations. I enjoyed your sermon 
and am an eye witness to many of the 
facts you so boldly presented." 
The Use of Primaries. 
The Masons and Knights of Columbus 
are a small majority of the voters in any 
state. Both are alike in seeking political 
power, and are inimical to the rights of 
outsiders. Why do not the Lutherans of 
Nebraska, for example, as well as others, 
oppose the nomination of either of these 
classes? There is no real antagonism be- 
tween the Mason and the Knights of 
Columbus. Those who are pinning their 
faith to the Masonic managed Menace 
are having dust thrown in their eyes and 
wasting their time and will never get 
anywhere. The Knights of Columbus 
are gaining in their hold upon public of- 
fice and the Masons often lend a helping 
hand openly or covertly. Governor John 
H. Morehead of Nebraska, a thirty-sec- 
ond degree Mason, appointed Mr. Mor- 
risy, an ardent Knight of Columbus, as 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 
The Masonic pretense of fighting the 
Catholic Church politically is camouflage. 

W. I. P. 



THE "PRIVATE SOLDIERS AND 
SAILORS LEGION." 

BY REV. P. HOEKENGA, RIPON, CALIF. 

A number of young men of my church 
have served the country during the re- 
cent war, and some of them asked my 
opinion concerning the "Private Soldiers 
and Sailors Legion," which they were 
urged to join. So far as I could see 
from information sent to them, this 
Legion aimed mainly to protect and help 
the boys who return home, and I there- 
fore did not discourage our boys from 
joining the Legion. 

But after sending their request for 
membership and an initial fee to cover 
the running expenses they received other 
literature which shows up different than 
what at first the Legion appeared to be. 
The boys asked me What is it? and I 
asked also, What is it? 

Judging from what I have .just been 



reading, and will reproduce in part, I 
have come to the conclusion that this 
"Private Soldiers and Sailors Legion" 
is fast becoming a Secret Organization, 
a new Lodge. Let me show you, dear 
readers, that it has all the marks of an 
oath-bound, secret society, and that it is 
therefore necessary that every true 
Christian takes notice of this thing. 

In the first place, the receipt for the 
initial fee savors of lodgism. It reads : 

"Received from Two 

Dollars, being the Initiation Fee in the 
Private Soldiers and Sailors Legion." 
It says that this receipt must be turned 
in when they receive membership cards. 
That does not look just right. 

But then comes a paper which each 
prospective member must sign before he 
is accepted as a member, and if anything 
ever smelled of lodgism, this paper does. 
Here is an exact duplicate of it: 

Obligation. 
Private Soldiers and Sailors Legion. 

I do solemnly swear on my sacred 
honor that I have been in the military or 
naval service of the L T nited States of 
America, or am now in one of these 
services, that I have neither held a com- 
mission, nor do I now hold one in the 
Army, Navy or Marine Corps of the. 
United States. 

I will faithfully obey the laws, regula- 
tions and constitution of this Legion. I 
will pay all just and lawful demands, 
lawful assessments, and will do all in my 
power to advance the cause of the 
Legion. 

I swear allegiance to the Constitution 
of the Luiited States and the American 
Flag. I will honor and uphold its prin- 
ciples and defend its covenants with my 
life if necessary. 

I shall forever keep inviolate the 
secret words, signs, and private transac- 
tions of this organization and will not re- 
veal same to any one, unless he be a 
member in good standing. I will at all 
times conduct myself as a peaceful and 
respectable citizen and will do naught to 
bring discredit on or embarrassment to 
this Legion. 

I will extend such aid and comfort as 
my circumstances and opportunities may 
justify and will defend to the best of my 
ability the good name of a member or 
any member of his familv and will ren- 



236 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



der such assistance at all times to com- 
rades, and their dependent ones, as is 
within my power. 

I do hereby and hereon proclaim this 
to be my voluntary obligation which I 
shall forever keep inviolate. 
Date Member 



Christians should be on the lookout and 
help our boys to escape from this (what 
seems to me) snare of the secret domain. 



Now, what is this if not a duplicate 
of an obligation such as one takes when 
he joins a lodge? 

There are several objectionable fea- 
tures about this "obligation" of which I 
will mention some of the most plainly 
visible: 

t. The word "obligation," which im- 
plies that the signer is bound to live up 
to all known and unknown requirements 
of the Legion. 

2. The "swearing" that is required in 
the first and third paragraphs. There is 
no necessity of it, and this Legion is not 
a body which can lawfully require an 
oath of its members. 

3. The exclusive character of the 
Legion. It excludes all commissioned 
officers. This is an element that looks 
too much like Russian to me. 

4- The apparent fact that the Legion 
is placed above the State, and that its 
members are grouped into a privileged 
class to be "defended" and "assisted" at 
all times by the comrades. 

5. The promise to "forever keep 
inviolate" what is mentioned in para- 
graphs four and six, a promise which a 
Christian cannot make without doing vio- 
lence to his conscience and without doing 
contrary to what Scripture requires. 

6. The almost unlimited demands 
which the Legion may make upon its 
members as indicated by paragraphs four 
and five. Paragraph five has in it also 
the germ of benefit insurance, and if one 
should object to this he would be break- 
ing his obligation. 

7. The plain fact that the Legion has 
for will have when fully organized) 
"secret words, signs and transactions." 
Even as it stands there, it is unlawful for 
a Christian to obligate himself to "for- 
ever keep inviolate"; but much more 
serious becomes this matter when one 
considers that he does not even know 
what these secret words, etc., are, or are 
going to be. 

Enough to show us, I think, that 



THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

The recent visit to this country of the 
heir to the British throne recalls the 
efforts made to popularize His Royal 
Highness in Great Britain last spring. 

The question was then raised whether 
the effort was to make him so popular 
that he would sit more firmly on the 
throne for which he is some day intended 
or to prepare him for the first President 
of Britain. 

Whatever the purpose no one has had 
so great press-agency attention in all Eu- 
rope. 

As soon as the armistice was signed 
the knowledge of the Prince's bravery on 
the field of battle was the press agents' 
theme. Then the papers told stories of 
his democracy among men in camp and 
barracks. They told of his joking and 
hearty handshake. 

Then he joined the Freemasons like 
other politicians. They told of his going 
down into the slums and tenements of 
London, and incidents of shaking hands 
with the mothers and and holding their 
babies as good politicians do. 

The Prince was next pictured with the 
British Prime Minister, David Lloyd 
George; both dressed alike and smoking 
the same brand of cigars. 

It seems a pity that the Prince of 
Wales did not follow his father's ex- 
ample and so have been free to serve 
the whole people free from special oblig- 
ations to a part. He may have thought 
that in these troublesome days it would 
be the part of wisdom to be within the 
secret chamber as a measure preventing 
hostile movements against the throne. 

W. I. P. 



Every man who comes into close and 
vital association with God is continually 
surprised at the bounty of heaven, at the 
tenderness of the divine fatherhood, at 
the largeness of the divine love ; surprise 
follows surprise in ever-growing amaze- 
ment because imagination is left behind 
and expression utterly fails when the 
goodness of God is contemplated. — 
Joseph Parker. 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



23? 



THE SECRET RITUAL OF THE 
A. F. OF Li 

One of the main objections against the 
American Federation of Labor (cfr. F. 
R., XXVI, 20, 311) has been its secret 
ritual. This, we learn from the New 
York Evening Post, was made public for 
the first time on Oct. 14, through inser- 
tion in the Congressional Record of the 
Federation's entire "Manual for Com- 
mon Procedure." 

The manual, which hitherto has been 
ordered "kept under lock and key in the 
meeting room and not to be exposed to 
the inspection of any person not a mem- 
ber in good standing," contains the "in- 
itiatory obligation" demanded of candi- 
dates for admission, and includes, among 
its stipulations the following promises : 

"You also promise to bear true alle- 
giance to the American Federation of 
Labor and never consent to subordinate 
its interests to those of any labor organ- 
ization of which you may now or here- 
after be a member? 

"You also promise to keep inviolate 
the traditional principles of the Amer- 
ican laborer — namely, to be respectful 
to every woman, considerate to the 
widow and orphan, the weak and de- 
fenseless, and never to discriminate 
against a fellow worker on account of 
creed, color or nationality; to defend 
freedom of thought, whether expressed 
by tongue or pen, with all the power at 
your command? 

"You further agree to educate your- 
self and fellow workers in the history 
of the labor movement and to defend, 
to the best of your ability, the trades 
union principle, which guards its auton- 
omy and which regards capital as the 
product of the past labor of all toilers 
of the human race, and that wages can 
never be regarded as the full equivalent 
for labor performed, and that it is the 
mission of the trade unions in the pres- 
ent and the future to protect the wage 
earners against oppression and to fully 
secure the toilers' disenthrallment from 
every species of injustice? 

"You further solemnly promise on 
your word of honor that you will, when- 
ever, wherever, possible, purchase only 
union-made goods, and that you will use 
your best endeavors to influence others 



to do the same, and never become faith- 
less to your obligation ? 

"To all of this you pledge your honor 
to observe and keep as long as life re- 
mains or until you may be absolved from 
this obligation by the American Federa- 
tion of Labor?" 

Following the obligation of initiation, 
the manual describes the official saluta- 
tions and contains the rituals to be ob- 
served in meeting. Describing the ritual, 
the manual says : 

"To gain admission to the meeting 
room you must knock at the inside door. 
When the guardian opens the wicket you 
will give him the current password. 

"This will admit you to the meeting 
room, when you will advance to the 
center of the hall, facing the president, 
whom you will salute with your right 
hand extended before you, parrellel with 
your shoulders, and palm of your hand 
upward. The president will recognize 
you by extending his hand, palm down- 
ward." 

In closing the meeting, the members 
are admonished to "bear well in mind 
your obligations. Cherish the union, for 
it teaches you how to live ; have faith 
in the union, and it will comfort you in 
need ; have zeal for the union, for in its 
growth you will find happiness for your- 
selves and your fellow men." — The Fort- 
nightly Review, November, 1919. 



THE ESSENCE OF AMERICANISM. 

In the rising ascendancy of industrial- 
ism one thing is sure. This must be 
maintained and obeyed alike by employer 
and employee. It is fundamental ; no 
authority can exceed that of the govern- 
ment. This is no new issue, no new 
principle. The State, under God, is su- 
preme. No Mr. Gompers can override 
the rule of the State. No Mr. Modera- 
tor, or Mr. Pope, or Mr. Gary, or Mr. 
Anybody, can represent or speak for an 
authority above that of the State. If 
any citizen feels that he has bound him- 
self to do that, he is all wrong. Even, 
in a sense, it might be said, the authority 
of Almighty God is subordinate. If a 
citizen claims that God's authority forces 
him to go against that of the State, he 
is in fair way to make trouble for him- 
self. If a workman is commanded by a 
union president to interfere with a fel- 



238 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



low-citizen in doing lawful service, he 
can only say. "L licle Sam I know and 
Mr. Employer I know and I will do what 
is my right, but who are you?'' 

This is the only truly American posi- 
tion for the rich man and the poor, for 
the employer and the laborer ; for the 
native and the alien. If a man says, "I 
am a Mormon and my chnrch says I 
must," we say "away with such a 
chnrch." If a man says, ''the officials of 
my union say I must," we say, "away 
with such a union." If a man says "I 
am a papist and the pope says I must," 
we say, '"your pope says no such thing 
for no power under heaven dares defy 
or deny the U. S. A." That would be 
incipient treason, it would be potential 
anarchy. — The Christian Statesman, 
Nov. 19 19. 



THE SENATE STEEL STRIKE 
INQUIRY. 

The Board of Investigation appointed 
by the U. S. Senate to inquire into the 
merits of the strike called by President 
Gompers 1 aids, Fitzpatrick and Foster, 
reported among other things the follow- 
ing: 

The cause of the strike was the deter- 
mination of the American Federation of 
Labor to unionize the steel industry. 
Wages were not a factor. The closed 
shop was the real object aimed at. 

We do not know of anyone who op- 
poses the voluntary organization of 
working-men and of their collective bar- 
gaining. Consider, however, the refresh- 
ing impudence of Gompers' American 
Federation of Labor, undertaking to 
compel a closed shop in the steel indus- 
try or in any other. 

Xo consideration is given the eighty 
per cent in the steel industry who do not 
want the "closed shop." No considera- 
tion is given to the disturbed condition 
of the world, and that peace had not been 
declared by our own country, but on the 
other hand, a special request had been 
made by President Wilson not to call the 
strike until matters could be considered 
at the October 6th Conference — all were 
contemptuously ignored or refused. 

The Senate Investigation reports that 
the main contention was the "closed 
shop." 

After several years of effort, Mr. Gom- 



pers and his aids had enrolled from ten 
per cent to twenty per cent of the steel 
workers. As the investigation showed, 
not a few of these were Bolshevists and 
anarchists who stop at nothing — neither 
arson nor murder. We have greater 
hopes for our government since the steel 
strike defeat and also that of the coal 
strike. Let the laborers organize but let 
them insist on the democratic and 
American principle of the "open shop." 

W. I. P. 



COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. 

The workers of a particular plant se- 
lect representatives from among their 
own number, who meet with the mana- 
gers of the plant and bargain as to wages, 
hours, etc. This principle is right and 
probably will not be disputed by anyone. 
This is the kind of collective bargaining 
that we are in favor of. 

The Federation of Labor, as we under- 
stand, would make collective bargaining 
a division of its duties. Its Collective 
Bargaining Board would deal directly 
with employers on the conditions of em- 
ployment of every kind of labor. It is 
the idea of one big union and its officers 
acting for workers in any and every 
trade or employment when any grievance 
arises and employers are to be met. This 
kind of collective bargaining would add. 
greatly to the power of the labor unions, 
but in our judgment would be bad in the 
long run for the working men, for busi- 
ness and for the country. 

The Open Shop. 

An industrial institution employing 
men to labor on the basis of equal oppor- 
tunity for employment whether union 
men or non-union men is the "open shop" 
principle. In the "open shop" an indus- 
try would exercise the right of employing 
men regardless of their union affiliations, 
or lack of such affiliation. 

In a "closed shop" membership in a 
certain workers'' union is a prerequisite 
for employment. In such a shop the 
union of workers is the first judge of the 
eligibility of an applicant for a job. 

The writer believes that the "open 
shop" is the best for the men — is the 
best character builder — and best for the 
industry. 

W. I. P. 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



239 



IS THE RIGHT TO STRIKE AN 
UNLIMITED RIGHT? 

Even so conservative a labor leader as 
Mr. Gompers seems to think it is. The 
leaders of the miners' unions declare they 
are deprived of their constitutional liber- 
ties because the government proposes to 
enjoin the coal strike. It has been inti- 
mated that if the railroad bill is passed 
with a clause prohibiting strikes, though 
arbitration is provided and imposed on 
both parties, a strike paralyzing the rail- 
roads and even perhaps a general strike 
will be the immediate form of protest. 

Thus the American public is confront- 
ed not only with what it believes is a 
reckless abuse of the strike, as in the 
Boston police strike and the coal strike, 
but also the assertion that organizeg! 
labor holds the right to strike to be 
without limitation. 

No other right known to civilized man 
is without limitation. The right of free 
speech is limited, the right of assembly, 
the right to vote, the right to possess and 
to use property — even the right to live. 

Only the right to strike, it seems, is 
not to be checked, limited, or circum- 
scribed. 

We do not think organized labor can 
afford to set up any such contention. We 
are sure the general public will not accept 
it. If it did there would be an end of our 
form of government and society. 

If America stands for anything it is 
that all rights are limitable in the interest 
of the common welfare. Mr. Gompers 
says to limit the right to strike is to re- 
store "involuntary servitude," but the re- 
mark is rhetoric, not common sense. If 
a man is a slave because his power to 
force his* will upon others is limited, then 
we are all slaves and ought to be. 

The coal strike is an abuse of the right 
to strike and clearly illustrates the need 
for the legal limitation of this right for 
the protection of the public. The strike 
has been abused of late to the general 
hurt, but in case of purely private, non- 
essential industry the correction of this 
must be left to ordinary forces in in- 
dustry. In essential industries the abuse 
of the strike is a national menace and 
challenges the public's right of self-pres- 
ervation. The government is compelled, 
therefore, and has done well to accept 
this challenge at once. The nation will 



support it to the conclusion. But govern- 
ment and nation both should not be con- 
tent with defense against this particular 
abuse of the strike. It should lay down 
principles prohibiting the strike wherever 
it threatens the vital interest of society. 

It is a grave mistake longer to shirk 
this issue of a free government. The 
strike in private industry has been essen- 
tial to the progress of labor. But if it is 
to be used against society it must be 
curbed by society. — Chicago Daily Trib- 
une, Nov. 3, 1919. 



MR. MURPHY, THE UNION, AND HIS 
PORCH. 

"May I not paint my own porch"'" 
asked a Chicago citizen named Murphy 
a few days ago. "You may not," prompt- 
ly replied the Painters' Union of the 
Windy City, and forthwith proceeded to 
levy a fine of fifty dollars on Murphy as 
a penalty for such painting as he already 
had done. Being true to the type in- 
dicated by his name, Murphy refused to 
pay the fine, and, according to the Chi- 
cago Tribune, "upon his refusal to pay 
this criminal demand he was slugged." 
The Tribune's attention was first called 
to the episode by the receipt of a letter 
from Murphy's daughter in which the 
circumstances were related. After pub- 
lishing the letter in the department of the 
paper known as the "Voice of the Peo- 
ple," the Tribune received a number of 
other letters from persons who expressed 
themselves in regard to the incident. 
These were also published in the "Voice 
of the People." We reproduce two of 
them herewith. The first, after register- 
ing the writer's objection to the interfer- 
ence of the union, relates another in- 
stance of such interference. The letter 
says : 

"It seems we can neither paint our own 
porches nor mend our own plumbing with- 
out being threatened with violence, and in 
many instances receiving- it from the trade 
unions with whom the officials do not care 
to stir up trouble when violence has been 
done to individuals. Who is this czar that 
can infringe upon our most sacred right, 
personal liberty, and regulate our affairs in 
our own home? 

"Yesterday a janitor stopped a woman's 
maid who was washing the windows oi her 
apartment, as he said that was the union 



240 



'HRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



window washers' work, who came around 
once a week and charged 20 cents a win- 
dow. There are fifteen windows in her 
apartment. She was timid and complied 
with his demand." 

The second letter is written by a man 
who defends the action of the union, in 
these quite outspoken words : 

"In the Voice of the People you begin 
to talk up Murphy as if he was a martyr 
the same as some other cases you butted 
in this town of Chicago to a union town 
and after union agents have raised wages 
up where they are who told you to but in 
and take a side with scabs that go to paint- 
ing their own jobs instead of giving out the 
job to regular union men. Let any man 
mind his own jobs in his own trade and 
not try to hoggit all. The common people 
ant going to stand much longer for one 
man holding out against organized labor 
in defying its rules. All wealth is labor and 
nothing else when Murphy painted his own 
job he stole the laboring mans wealth. You 
say has a man got a right to paint his own 
house and the union says no and means it. 
Murphy didnt have no right to lay a brush 
on that job and if he did go to buy that 
shack he didnt have no right. 

"Yours for unionism honest pay freedom 
Americanism 6 hours day and liberty." 



INJURIES FROM INITIATION. 

Prof. R. C. H. Lenski, editor of the 
"Lutherische Kirch ens eitung/ J the organ 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod 
of Ohio and other states, has for many 
years been interested in the work of our 
Association. He not only gave two even- 
ing talks to students of the Capitol Uni- 
versity, but sent in to us the following 
item with comments which we believe 
will be interesting as well as enlighten- 
ing as to the sublimity of the Masonic 
Degrees. Professor Lenski whites: 

"Here's an item for the Cynosure. It 
appeared Friday, October 31st, in the 
Columbus Dispatch. 

Prosecutor Hugo Schlesinger has instructed 
Coroner Heintz to investigate the death of 
James Stewart, 57 years old, negro, who fell 
while undergoing initiation into a lodge 
Thursday, receiving injuries which resulted 
in his death. His neck was broken, Dr. Ernest 
Scott and Coroner Heintz found in a post- 
mortem examination. 

Stewart had been blindfolded and carried 
about on the shoulders of several members 
of a degree team, Detective Frank Mahoney 



learned upon investigation of the case. Stew- 
art fell and was carried to the side of the 
hall. 

Stewart was first of three initiated Wednes- 
day night at the Godman Guild House, ac- 
cording to Rev. J. G. Orr, 461 Poplar avenue, 
pastor of the Macedonian Baptist church, 400 
West Goodale street, and master of the lodge, 
St. Johns^ Lodge, No. 6, A. F. & A. M. 

Quite illuminating. Masonic niggers — 
is that what the letters mean at the end? 
And the Reverend "Master" of the 
Lodge ! Beautiful combination ! No more 
about the case in the Dispatch — of 
course, not. Don't expect. 



From The Herald, dated October 10th, 
19 19, of Hagerstown, Maryland, we 
take the following. To us, it seems, a 
spanker would serve' better as an 
"ouster" from the lodge than a machine 
tc be used in cementing the bonds of 
brotherhood. 

Edgar Hoover is suffering from a serious 
wound in his right hip as the result of an 
accident while he was being initiated into a 
local secret order on Monday night. _ 

Hoover was the subject of the initiation 
exercises and, having been blindfolded, it is 
understood, one of the officers of the lodge 
wielded a paddle, in the back of which was a 
blank cartridge. When the paddle struck the 
subject being initiated, the cartridge was sup- 
posed to explode. In the^case of Hoover, the 
person using the paddle is said to have turned 
the. paddle over and instead of the padded 
side striking Hoover, the side in which the 
cartridge was inserted struck him, the explo- 
sion causing an ugly wound to be torn in 
Hoover's hip. He was hurried to his home 
and a ohvsician called. 



REBELLION IN W. OF W. CAMP. 

The Omaha Bee of November 9th, 
contains an item on the "Woodmen of 
the World" of more than usual interest. 

A suit was begun on November 8th 
against the Sovereign Camp, W. of W. 
The purpose of the suit is to enjoin the 
Woodmen of the World and its officers 
from putting into effect the new rate 
adopted by the Sovereign Camp. These 
rates are much higher than those now in 
force. 

It is charged that old members, at their 
present attained age, cannot possibly pay 
the new rate; it is prohibitive. It is also 
charged that the rates sought to be put 
into effect are higher than those of old- 
line insurance companies, and that if the 
changes planned are carried into effect it 
will violate the Constitution of the Wood- 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



241 



men of the World and the laws of Ne- 
braska. 

The suit has not been decided yet but 
it looks like another lesson to those who 
wish insurance in a company that would 
not freeze them out in their old age, and 
who can get along without a lodge tomb- 
stone, and an idolatrous burial service — 
it looks like a lesson to fight shy of secret 
insurance companies. 

W. I. P. 



THE TUNNICLIFF MEMORIAL. 

It has been a universal custom among 
mankind to set up some monument or 
memorial to perpetuate the memory of 
important events or of distinguished 
persons. The statement of Secretary 
Phillips on the back cover of the No- 
vember Cynosure is impressive and the 
memory of such a man ought to be kept 
before the rising generations who shall 
reside in and around Schuylers Lake. 

Who has not been affected by looking 
upon some monument or memorial of a 
friend. In every age of the church his- 
tory, God has been pleased by symbols 
that appeal to His children, to teach us 
important spiritual truths. Circumcision 
was established as a memorial of God's 
covenant. Twelve stones were set up 
like as so many pillars as memorial of 
God's cure for'His people. So I feel a 
memorial of such as the one to which 
Secretary Phillips refers is worthy of 
our consideration. I feel the poet has 
well expressed the services of Byron 

TunniclifT : 

Not on the glory field of fame, 

His noble deeds were done. 
Not in the sound of earth's acclaim, 

His fadeless crowns were won. 
Not from the palaces of Kings, 

Came the great souls whose life work flings 
Luster o'er earth and time. 

For truth with tireless zeal he sought, 

In joyless paths he trod. 
Heedless of praise or blame he wrought 

And left the rest with God. 
The lowest sphere was not disdained 

Where love could soothe or save, 
He went by fearless faith sustained 

Nor knew his deeds were brave. 

A. H. Leaman. 



MEMORIAM. 

On October 22nd, Mrs. C. G. Fait, of 
Monango, North Dakota, for many years 
a faithful friend and co-worker of the 
National Christian Association, was 
called to her reward. She was a highly 
respected woman in her community ; her 
death is to be greatly regretted. Ever 
since Mr. and Mrs. Fait first located in 
North Dakota, in 1883, she has been ac- 
tive in Sunday school work and other 
branches of Christian service. We ex- 
tend our sympathy to Brother Fait and 
his family. 



Word has reached us of the home- 
going of Mrs. Laura Louiza Foster, the 
wife of Rev. James M. Foster, pastor of 
the Second Reformed Presbyterian 
Church, Boston. In reading the memo- 
rial discourse concerning the life and 
labors of Mrs. Foster, we can only regret 
that we cannot give the whole of the 
sketch of the life of this wonderful 
Christian woman, mother, and pastor's 
helpmeet. That, however, is impossible. 
We do extend our sincere sympathy to 
our bereaved brother. Rev. Mr. Foster 
has been one of the most prominent 
friends of the anti-secrecy movement in 
New England. 



Such as are thy habitual thoughts, 
such will also be the character of thy 
mind ; for the soul is dyed by the 
thoughts. — Marcus Aurelius. 



THE LODGE. 

Weighed and Found Wanting. 

(Concluded.) 

For as they say, these societies be- 
lieve a forgiveness of sin and in a bet- 
ter life in the world to come — a life each 
and every member may be certain of. 
Taking them at their word, upon what 
do they, as a body, base this their belief, 
this their hope, and this their assurance ? 
By their own choice without the Christ 
and His Gospel, the only foundation 
which God has laid for our salvation can 
not be the ground they stand on. Nor 
can it be presumed that any unsupported 
ipse dixit of their several founders, wor- 
shipful masters, priests high or low, 
chaplains, spokesmen, or other advo- 
cates of their cause, would satisfy the 
members on a subject of so grave and 
vital a nature. What, then, in brief, is 
their order of salvation? 

Turning to their burial formulas, and 
to other expositions pertinent to the 



242 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



matter, and such as any one is welcome 
to hear or read, it plainly appears that, 
for peace with God and for entrance 
into heaven, they teach their members 
to rely upon the indulgence of an all- 
loving Father who in His kindness — 
needless and therefore heedless of any 
mediation as by a Christ — will look upon 
them and deal with each one according 
to his moral worth and the merit of his 
conduct. And it furthermore appears, 
that so goody-good is this Father held 
to be toward all, that a passport into 
heaven is denied to not a single mem- 
ber. Beyond this general outline of 
their creed they cannot be said to go of- 
ficially ; but, as in the case a belief in 
God demanded, each member is left to 
interpret the teaching thus set forth ac- 
cording to his own good pleasure ; so 
that the Christian may after all rely on 
the Christ, if he wants to, and the mor- 
alist on his virtuous self and on such 
good as he does ! 

Now of all the strong delusions sent 
them of God who love and believe not 
the truth, can any be found which is so 
utterly subversive of God's own order 
of salvation, as is this lying device 
taught and believed in by the lodge? 
And since not a few of those who are 
party to this "working of error" and its 
continued abetment, must know it to be 
contrary to all Scripture, it would seem 
that they do it in conscious defiance of 
the thrice holy God and His Word — 
yes, of that Word by which they are 
judged by Him in time and for eternity. 

Of all the doctrines of the Scriptures 
there is not another so plainly, explicitly 
and repeatedly set forth as is that of a 
sinner's justification before God and 
unto the life eternal. Of this any one, 
who has been taught, if no more than 
the primary truths of applied grace, must 
be fully aware. Aside from other pas- 
sages, here read Rom. 3, 19-31. There 
it is declared, on the one hand and for 
our warning, that by the deeds of the 
Law shall no flesh be justified in God's 
sight ; then on the other and for our 
comfort, that apart from the Law a 
righteousness of God has been mani- 
fested through faith in Jesus Christ. 
And the latter, who is appointed to judge 
the quick and the dead, and who holds 



in His hand the keys to the kingdom of 
heaven, says, "I am the way, the truth 
and the life; no man cometh unto the 
Father but by me." But "ye are severed 
from Christ, ye who would be justified 
by the Law ; ye are fallen away from 
grace." Gal. 5, 4. Touching these testi- 
monies divine, partly dread and partly 
so dear to our souls, nothing dare be 
said within the assemblies of the lodge, 
whilst to anything which pronounces 
every man to be the master of his own 
destiny in this life and for the life to 
come, the freest and most welcome ex- 
pression may be given. Howbeit, for 
their silence on the Gospel of God and 
its truth, we do not blame them in the 
least; but on the ground of their sub- 
stituting for it a saving way of their 
own devising, and one false and death- 
dealing to immortal souls, we do con- 
demn them. 

Alas, yes, there are entire churches, 
even so-called Christian churches, in 
which this same godless doctrine of self- 
worth and workrighteousness is held 
and propagated ; but, put to the probe of 
inerrant Scripture, it is found a lie in its 
every particular; for by this standard 
of all spiritual truth there is no Father 
of mankind who is not the Father of an 
only begotten Son coequal with Him- 
self ; there is no love manifested toward 
sinners without an atonement in full sat- 
isfaction of divine holiness and justice; 
there is no righteousness availing before 
God for pardon, peace, and eternal life, 
except the righteousness acquired for 
men by the Son of Man their Savior; 
and there is no faith that apprehends the 
Christ and the gifts of Christ other than 
the faith by the operation of the Spirit 
of God. 

In the light and sight of these most 
holy and precious truths brought down 
from heaven and placed before their 
eyes, what can we say of the lodge 
which preaches "another gospel," and 
one subversive of the one given us by 
the grace of God, other than "let it be 
anathema!" Gal. 1, 8. — A curse most 
dire. Any congregation, therefore, 
which would preserve its integrity as a 
body truly evangelical, dare not assume 
or maintain an attitude of indifference 
or of easy tolerance toward a sin so 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



243 



great and grievous as we find the re- 
ligion of lodgery to be in all its bearings. 
— Author Unknown. 



A WORD WITH THE FATHERS. 

BY MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, FORMER GOV- 
ERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

One of the best men I ever knew gave 
to this country three splendid sons, loyal, 
capable and conscientious. I once asked 
him how he managed to do it. He said : 
"I have always made my boys my com- 
panions." In the intimate comradeship 
of father and son there rose the occasion 
to teach the boys what it is to be a really 
fine American and a Christian gentleman. 
The father's wise procedure made three 
eminent citizens of his sons. 

The strength of a nation lies in its 
spiritual forces, not in its material gains, 
and the great agencies that conserve 
spiritual ideals are the home, church and 
the school. Unfortunately the home, 
where most of this should be done, really 
does the least. All parents holding love 
for children and country will endeavor to 
perform their most important duty of 
maintaining and imparting high ideals, 
for in the coming days as never before 
we must give intelligent guidance to our 
children. 

My own father, after church, on Sun- 
day afternoons, often accompanied his 
three boys to the mountains or forests. 
There in the cool and silence he gave us 
many suggestions that have ripened into 
inestimable good in the years that have 
come and gone since he can no longer 
walk with us. 

We do not see him but we feel his 
presence and gratefully follow his fine 
teachings. 

I urge all fathers to have personal and 
intimate converse with their sons, and 
this can be done from the time they are 
tiny fellows. Impress lofty ideals of duty 
to God and country. Teach the value 
of the great cardinal virtues of courtesy, 
reliability and humility, without which 
life is a mockery. 



WHEATON BIBLE CONFERENCE. 

By President Blanchard. 
wSome years ago the faculty of the col- 
lege, feeling that there was not sufficient 
attention given the work of Christ among 
the young people, resolved to hold two 
Bible conferences each year. One was 
to be near the beginning of the school 
year; the other about the first of Jan- 
uary. These meetings have been held 
regularly since. The particular time has 
varied but the meetings have always been 
held. 

This year the first one came later than 
ever before. The dates were from No- 
vember 2d to 'November 9th. The teach- 
ers expected were : Rev. Paul Rader of 
Chicago, Rev. J. W. Welch of Elgin, 
Rev. O. S. Gqnnell of Wayne, 111., Rev. 
W. L. Ferris of Dundee, 111., Rev. W. J. 
McCarrel of Chicago, Rev. Louis T. Tal- 
bot of Oak Park, 111. 

The missionaries present were : Mr. 
and Mrs. Cooper of Turkey, Mr. and 
Mrs. Christopherson of China, Mr. and 
Mrs. McLeod of China, Mrs. David Ek- 
vall of the Tibetan border, Mrs. C. M. 
Polk of Ecuador, Mr. E. F. Rice of the 
Sudan. 

The music leaders were Mr. and Mrs. 
McKay. Special music was provided by 
Miss Rippe, director of the conservatory. 

The morning sessions were given to 
Bible teaching; the afternoons to mis- 
sionary life and work ; the evenings to 
evangelism. The evangelist was Rev. W. 
J. McCarrel already named. His minis- 
try has been in great power. 

The prayer meetings have been very 
largely attended and the Spirit of God 
has been honored and manifested in a 
blessed way. 

We have never been denied the bless- 
ing of God on these special services. 
Sometimes I think this year is the best 
of the number. Each one has seemed to 
be best when it was on. Pray for us 
with many thanksgivings. 



Our faithfulness is far better tested 
by the rough places encountered in life 
than when the road seems smooth and 
even. — B. E. Warren. 



Never be discouraged because good 
things get on so slow here ; and never 
fail to do daily that good which lies next 
to your hand. Do not be in a hurry, but 
be diligent. Enter into the sublime 
patience of the Lord. — George MacDon- 
ald. 



244 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



Items of Interest from Friends 



Mr. William Leon Brown, of Law- 
rence, Indiana, wrote to our secretary- 
treasurer, W. I. Phillips: "It was a good 
joke that the Editor played on you in the 
November Cynosure, but I think that 
you deserve it. I am glad that he put 
both of those articles in the Cynosure. I 
was interested in your "items," also 
President Blanchard's article and all the 
others that I have had time to read. I 
think the Cynosure is doing an excellent 
work and is worthy of the support of 
every true Christian." 



Our friend, A. B. Mock, of Pennsyl- 
vania, is ever on the lookout to warn 
people of the evils of secretism. He 
sends us a clipping on "Political Delu- 
sions" from which we quote the follow- 
ing, and he also asks that we send him 
literature "so that this editor will know 
what became of Morgan, if he w r ants to 
know — but maybe he is one of those who 
do not want to know." 

"One of the earliest of these side issues 
came in the first part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. A man named Morgan published 
what purported to be an exposure of the 
secrets of Masonry, including copies of the 
oaths supposed to be taken by initiates. 
The volume created considerable excite- 
ment. In the midst of this furore Morgan 
suddenly vanished and no man knows the 
manner or the method of his death, even 
unto the present day. Of course his dis- 
appearance was laid to the account of the 
Masons. The result was the organization 
of the Anti-Masonic rarty, a combination 
of anti-secret society advocates who had 
their little day of notoriety and then van- 
ished. The society is merely a name now 
and secret fraternal societies are in very 
good odor with the American people 
today." 

This clipping was taken from the 
Altoona Tribune and we are glad to help 
Brother Mock in every way to inform 
the editor of the aforesaid paper, not 
only what became of Morgan, but also to 
let him know that anti-secret society ad- 
vocates have not vanished but that there 
are thousands upon thousands of anti- 
secretists in the United States today. 



Mrs. S. E. Bailey of Arkansas, who 
was instrumental in winning Lizzie 
Woods Roberson for Christ, wrote re- 
cently: "I am planning to attend the 



State Baptist Convention in Little Rock, 
Arkansas, and I want your best 'shot' 
(tracts) to fire into that crowd as long 
as the shot lasts or as long as they will 
permit me. Pray that the Lord may- 
open a door for me to use the tracts 
effectively." 

We are pleased to learn from Rev. F. 
Schumann of Sawyer, Wisconsin, that 
our labors on the November Cynosure 
were helpful. He writes : "Your last 
number of the Cynosure certainly con- 
tains some very interesting and convinc- 
ing' articles." 



One of our friends across the Atlan- 
tic, F. A. Wood, of London, England, 
says when writing how pleased he was 
with out tract, "Why I Am Not a 
Mason," by Herman Newmark, "I am 
much pleased with your work, and wish 
your Association God-speed and abun- 
dant blessing upon all that is done by 
you for His glory." 



Mr. J. J. Van Wagnen of Syracuse, 
New York, when sending in a new sub- 
scriber to the Cynosure, and also re- 
newing his own subscription, writes : "I 
am just as much interested in the Cyno- 
sure and its work as ever, though I am 
not able to do much on account of my 
very poor sight. I want to receive the 
Cynosure as long as I live." 



Mr. J. D. Rockwell, of Alhambra, Illi- 
nois, for many years a co-worker with 
the N. C. A., writes : "I see the Illinois 
Legislature knocked out the secret work 
in the high school fraternities. I hope 
the sentiment will grow as fast as the 
prohibition sentiment did in the past few 
years and force the secret work out of 
the lodges." 



A Christian worker, Mrs. S. Worrell, 
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, writes us 
that "I was once a lodge-woman but 
now, praise the Lord, I am free from 
everything like that. But O, the preach- 
ers who are Masons and leading the 
people into secret orders !" We are in 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



245 



the hopes of securing a testimony from 
Mrs. Worrell. 



Evelyn G. Manter, who has enjoyed 
the blessings of a Christian home where 
the evils of secretism have been taught, 
writes for her mother, who recently 
made a very generous offering to the 
Association : "We thank you for your 
letter and the life membership certificate. 
Mother likes the way you made out the 
certificate very much and prizes it high- 
ly." 



Our readers will remember the testi- 
mony of our Brother Herman New T - 
mark, recently of Kobe, Japan, which 
appeared in the July and August Cyno- 
sure. Under date of October 18th, he 
writes from London, England : "I am 
taking up labor here in England as or- 
ganizing secretary for the 'Prayer Union 
for Israel.' Best wishes in Christ to 
you all." Brother Newmark has recent- 
ly spent three weeks in France in serv- 
ice of the Lord. Let us remember him 
and his people, the Jews, in our prayers. 



A minister of the Primitive Baptist 
faith, located in Georgia, recently sent 
in several very large orders for books 
to be sent to various parties. These 
were all due to his preaching one Sun- 
day on the lodge question. He says: "I 
will add that if the dear Lord ever 
helped me to preach in this world, it was 
that day. The attention was intense and 
the stillness of death prevailed through- 
out the one and one-half hours I was 
talking. Many Masons were in the con- 
gregation, but they were very quiet and 
looked rather lonesome as they saw that 
the majority of people were with me. I 
told the ladies in the audience, who had 
Masonic husbands and who had been so 
often tantalized because they could not 
keep the Masonic secret, that if they 
would give me the money I would fur- 
nish them with literature, which if they 
would read it they would know more 
about Freemasonry than their husbands. 
Things are getting stirred on this ques- 
tion in Georgia and it is coming our 
way." Let us also pray for this worker 
in Georgia, that through him many who 
are now wandering in darkness may be 
brought to the true Light, Jesus Christ." 



Prof. J. R. Millin, of Knoxville, Ten- 
nessee, is well known among those or" 
the Cynosure family. He writes to Mr. 
W. I. Phillips : "It has come, as come it 
would, sooner or later. Our country is 
in a death grapple with the serpent of 
secretism. It is a plain case of sowing 
and reaping. Under many forms of 
lodge ry, through the years of its history, 
our country has coddled the serpent of 
secretism, and now our country, boasted 
land of the free,' is gripped in the coils 
of that serpent. Yes, laboring men have 
a right to organize for efficiency and 
protection, but neither laboring men nor 
other men have a right to organize se- 
cret lodges in a free country. In Russia 
or China secretism might be justified as 
a desperate temporary expedient to se- 
cure needed reform. But lodgism and 
democracy are contradictories. The 
strike menace of today is the legitimate 
outcome of the secret lodge system. The 
pitiable and impossible condition of the 
church, too, is due largely to its alliance 
with the secret lodge system. Who hath 
ears to hear, let him hear — Elijah's chal- 
lenge of thirty centuries ago. Christ or 
the lodge Baal — which?" 



To-day, 

Unsullied, comes to thee — new born; 

To-morrow is not thine. 

The sun may cease to shine 
For thee ere earth shall greet its morn. 

Be earnest, then, in thought and deed, 
Nor fear approaching night ; 
Calm comes with evening light, 

And hope, and peace — thy duty heed 

To-day. 



A promise should be given with cau- 
tion, and kept with care. A promise 
should be made by the heart, and re- 
membered by the head. A promise and 
its performance should, like the scales 
of a true balance, always present a mu- 
tual adjustment. A promise neglected 
is an untruth told. A promise attended 
to is a debt settled. 



"Commend me to the friend that 
comes when I am sad and lone. And 
makes the anguish of my heart the suf- 
fering of his own." 



246 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



TESTIMONIES OF SECEDERS 



PRESIDENT C. G. FINNEY, OBERLIN, OHIO 

Castor, Evangelist and 
a renouncing Mason 

" How can we fail to pronounce Freemasonry an antichristian institution ? Its morality ib 
unchristian. Its oath-bound secrecy is unchristian. The administration and taking of its oaths 
are unchristian, and a violation of a positive command of Christ. Masonic oaths pledge its mem- 
bers to commit most unlawful and unchristian deeds ; to conceal each other's crimes ; to deliver 
each other from difficulty whether right or wrong ; to unduly favor Masonry in political actions and 

in business transactions; its members are sworn to retaliate, 
and persecute unto death the violators of Masonic obliga- 
tions. * * * Its oaths are profane, the taking of the 
name of God in vain. The penalties of these oaths are 
barbarous, and even savage. Its teachings are false and 
profane. Its design is partial and selfish. Its ceremonies 
are a mixture of puerility and profanity. Its religion is 
deistic. It is a false religion, and professes to save men upon 
other conditions than those revealed in the Gospel of Christ. 
It is a virtual conspiracy against both church and state. 
Those who adhere intelligently and determinedly to such an 
institution have no right to be in the Christian church. 
*_ # * If Freemasonry is a sin, a sham, an abomination, 
as I know it to be, and as you also know, then there is but 
one way open to us, or to any honest man who knows what 
Freemasonry is, and that way is to bear a most decided and 
persistent testimony against it, cost what it may. If any 
man will withhold his testimony against so great a wrong 
to save his influence he will sooner or later lose it." 




PRES. C, G. FINNEY 



tREV. 8M. L. HANEY 

Pastor of M. E. Church, Evan- 
gelist and a seceder from Masonry 

"I have seen the church prayer-meeting nearly desolate in 
every part of the country, because many of its members had 
their hearts divided with the lodge. I have demonstrated, in 
thirty years of evangelism, that it is well-nigh impossible to 
have a wide, deep, thorough revival of religion in any com- 
munity, town, or city which has been honey-combed by the 
influences of the lodge. In my seventy-ninth year, and before 
I depart to God, I felt I must leave the above testimony. 1 ' 



w vm 


Hgli&a ^-' <Sa' 


m 




Kv '•" 5 ^^^»l 



REV. M. L. HANEY 



COL. GEORGE R. CLARKE 

Founder of the Pacific Garden 
Mission and a renouncing Mason 

"I have been a member of several secret societies. I was a 32 Mason in Chicago 
before the fire; I also belonged to the Blue Lodge and other intervening orders. In all those that 
I belonged to, the association was with the men of the world, without respect to their religion, 
whether they had any or had none at all. Such men as atheists, infidels, Mohammedans, Catho- 
lics and Protestants can all unite together in these secret associations on an equality, in a bond 
which they call the 'bond of brotherhood. ' 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



247 



Views on Many Topics 



ATTENTION WORKERS! 

Are you making use of the most effec- 
tive weapons in our warfare? If not, 
what or who is hindering? Meditate 
much upon the following paragraph : 

"Andrew Bonar has left it on record that 
he never 'entered into a season of pure 
prayer without a fierce battle at the thresh- 
old. Satan dreads nothing but prayer. . . . 
The Church that lost its Christ was full of 
good works. Activities are multiplied that 
meditation may be ousted, and organiza- 
tions are increased that prayer may have 
no chance. Souls may be lost in good 
works, as surely as in evil ways. The one 
concern of the devil is to keep the saints 
from praying. He fears nothing from 
prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayer- 
less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks 
at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray." 
— S. Chadwick. 

Jesus said unto them "that they ought 
always to pray and not to faint." 

W. I. P. 



GOOD NEWS. 

The Free Methodist Church adopted 
the following at their recent General 
Conference : 

Secrctism. — It is now declared by highest 
authority that the days of secret diplomacy 
are past. We rejoice to hear it. And if 
this is well in national and international re- 
lations, it is good in organizations of 
smaller compass. The incoming of true 
Christian fraternalism will be the end of all 
secret societies. The political rallying cry, 
"A square deal for all and special favors 
for none," means logically the death of 
iodgery. God speed the day. 



LIFT BAN ON BEVERAGE MEN. 

At its October session, the Executive 
Council, after considering the changed 
conditions under national prohibition, 
adopted a ruling declaring that manu- 
facturers of and dealers in soft drinks, 
such as near-beer, etc., are now eligible 
to become and remain members of Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America, so far as 
their occupation is concerned. Thus, 
among other beneficial effects of banish- 
ing the alcoholic liquor traffic may be 
included the opening of the doors of this 
great society to the men who have here- 
tofore been barred out by reason of 
their being engaged in a prohibited oc- 
cupation. — The Modem Woodman. 



NEW YORK'S CHINATOWN CHRIS- 
TIAN "MAYOR." 

He is Lee Tow, a Christian, who for 
years struggled against great odds in the 
vicinity of Pell and Mott streets. Re- 
cently he was elected president of the 
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Asso- 
ciation, which office practically makes 
him "Mayor" of Chinatown. 

The papers have been filled with what 
followed his election ; how the Associa- 
tion voted to do away with their idols 
and to close the joss house at which they 
had worshiped their ancestors for many 
years, and how they stripped it of its gav 
trappings and smashed and then burned 
the idols and all that went with them, re- 
fusing an offer of $500 for one of the 
idols. 

Rev. Huie Kin, pastor of the Chinese 
Presbyterian Church in New York, said 
that he attributed the result to the fact 
that the new official had braved the Con- 
fucians by going out into the open air 
with the gospel. — Christian Workers 
Magazine. 



INFIDEL NIGHT SCHOOLS. 

Infidel night schools for miners' chil- 
dren have been discovered in a corner of 
one of the coal-mining states. The 
catechism taught in that school includes 
this question: "Who was Jesus Christ?'' 
and the answer, "Jesus Christ was the 
illegitimate son of a virgin named Mary.'' 
Another question is, "Did Jesus arise 
from the dead on the third day, as the 
Church teaches us?" and the answer is, 
"The legend of the resurrection of Christ 
is just a myth." It is said that a foreign 
socialistic secret organization is the 
sponsor for this infidel school for chil- 
dren. One denomination is planning to 
invade this field with the Gospel, sending 
in pastors and teachers who can speak 
the foreign languages of the miners. — 
The Literary Digest. 



RESULTS OF PROHIBITION. 

According to the Newspapers. 

An item in the Cleveland Plain Dealer 

the middle of July stated that the mayor's 

secretary reported that prohibition had 

brought the number of city prisoners in 



248 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



the Warrensville workhouse to the 
smallest number in history. That day 
there were only 335 prisoners in the 
workhouse. He attributed the decrease 
from the average of 800 in wet times to 
dry conditions. (The town had been dry 
but two weeks then.) 

He said figures at the workhouse indi- 
cate the drug habit was not being stimu- 
lated by the ending of the liquor traffic. 



book of nature." (Page 226 of "Morals 
and Dogma.") 



A Cleveland party of men recently 
motored through eastern Ohio and west- 
ern Pennsylvania, dipping into the Old 
Dominion and returning across West 
Virginia. The party spent a few hours 
of the Fourth of July in Pittsburgh, and 
was in Uniontown during the automobile 
races, and used up a day in Wheeling. 

One of the men was asked what im- 
pressed him the most during the tour. 

His answer came promptly : 

"The thing that impressed me the 
most," he said, "was the fact that we 
didn't see a drunken man during the 
entire journey." — Cleveland Plain Deal- 
er. 



SOMETHING NEW. 

The powers that be in the Secret Em- 
pire have withdrawn from the trade 
"Morals and Dogma" by Alfred Pike. 
This work is the authorized expression 
by the Scottish Rite of the principles of 
Masonry, as to dogma and morals. 

The only way to secure a copy is to 
send to the Custodian, at Washington, D. 
C, your last lodge receipt for dues for 
identification and the cost of the book 
and then it may be sent. 

This book, "Morals and Dogma," does 
not contain the so-called secrets but just 
what the title implies. For instance in 
discussing the attitude of Masonry to- 
wards Christianity it says: "Masonry, 
around whose altars the Christian, the 
Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the 
followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, 
can assemble as brethren and unite in 
prayer to the one God who- is above all 
the Baalim, must needs leave it to each of 
its initiates to look for the foundation of 
his faith and hope to the written scrip- 
tures of his own religion. For itself it 
finds those truths definite enough, which 
are written by the finger of God upon the 
heart of man and on the pages of the 



The Bible that never is closed in the 
lodge, proclaims the glorious truths that 
are worthy of our belief and practice, 
points out the way to eternal life, and fits 
us for the glorious inheritance. — The 
Ohio Mason, Feb. 1st, 1919. The word 
"Bible" is interpreted in the item above 
taken from "Morals and Dogma." 



MATTHEW 18:19. 
FOR WATCH NIGHT, 1919. 
"IF TWO OF YOU SHALL AGREE 
ON EARTH." Happy that home, or 
church, or community, where two 
"agree" in and with and for Christ, as to 
the things for which they ask. "It shall 
be done for them of my Father which is 
in heaven." 

"For where two or three are gathered 
together in My name, there am I in the 
midst." 

Two intercessors are sufficient for a 
watch-night meeting of prevailing prayer. 
Even one intercessor may prevailingly 
"agree" with the Holy Spirit, who Him- 
self is "on earth," thus making the 
"two." 

If the number is larger than two, all 
the better. There were 120 on the day 
of Pentecost, "ALL WITH ONE AC- 
CORD IN ONE PLACE"— they were 
"AGREED" — and the greatest revival of 
history began. All their differences and 
bitternesses, if they had any, had been 
prayed through and confessed and put 
away during the preceding ten days. 

If the Church of Jesus Christ ever 
needed a fresh manifestation of Pente- 
costal power, it surely needs it today. 

A body without life is a corpse. Has 
the professing body of Christ ever come 
nearer being a corpse than it is today? 
True, it is full of "good works." It has 
plenty of money. It has still a "little 
strength," but — 

Has it not left its "first love"? 

Have its works been found perfect be- 
fore God? 

Is it not, in its own sight, "rich, and 
increased with goods, and in need of 
nothing" ? 

Does it know that in God's sight it is 
"wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
blind, and naked" ? 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



249 



Is it not loaded to the breaking point 
with carnal rubbish and filthy lucre, its 
membership largely unregenerate, its 
powerhouse of intercession well-nigh un- 
worked, its family altar neglected and its 
prayer meetings either entertainments or 
practically deserted altogether? Are not 
many of its members patronizers of Sun- 
day trains, readers of Sunday news- 
papers, desecrators of the Sabbath, seek- 
ers after worldly pleasure, conscience- 
less violators of God's laws, having 
"turned the grace of God into lascivious- 
ness"? 

Would that some voice from heaven 
might one more arouse the well-nigh 
putrid professing body of Christ. 

These should be days, not of feasting, 
but of fasting, not of entertainment, but 
of united and mighty calling upon God — 
in confession, in humble repentance, in 
seeking once more the face and favor of 
God. 

Would that there might be, AND 
THERE WILL BE, literal thousands 
of watch-night meetings this year 
throughout the length and breadth of the 
land — meetings of "twos" and "threes" 
in ho m e s, and larger numbers in 
churches ; meetings, not to entertain, or 
to "review" the year's "achievements," 
BUT TO INTERCEDE FOR REVIV- 
AL. 

One such meeting was held last year in 
the Weston Memorial Baptist Church, 
Philadelphia, and another in the Moody 
Bible Institute, Auditorium building, 
Chicago, and there were many others. 
The foregoing "two" will again claim 
Matt. 18:19 this year, and the number 
of similar gatherings will be greatly in- 
creased over last year. 

There ought to be one in YOUR home, 
or church, or community, and there 
WILL be if God lays it upon your heart, 
for you will obey Him. 

A mighty spiritual upheaval is near 
at hand. Whether you believe it or not, 
both it and He are coming soon. God's 
ear is alert to hear the first faint cry of 
His awakening Church. "Call unto me, 
and I will answer thee." Yea, even 
BEFORE they call, I will answer ; and 
WHILE THEY ARE YET SPEAK- 
ING, I will hear." Already the Church 
has begun to cry and God has begun to 
answer. 



J^etos; of 0uv WBovk 

HOLIDAY OFFERING. 

Through the kindness of our Heavenly 
Father, we have been brought to another 
season of thanksgiving and rejoicing. 
Let us show our gratitude to Him who is 
worthy of all praise, by giving a liberal 
contribution to the National Christian 
Association. Surely the work of the As- 
sociation is standing for the truth, and 
the truth will make men free. God has 
blessed our work during the past year, 
and through the offerings of our many 
friends we will be able to do more for 
the Cause this coming new year. 

A. H. Leaman. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE. 

The Board of Directors of the Na- 
tional Christian Association, at their last 
meeing voted unanimously to increase the 
subscription price of the Christian 
Cynosure from $1 to $1.50 per year, the 
matter having been discussed thoroughly 
before the above action was taken. The 
cost of printing, paper and labor has in- 
creased considerably the past few r years 
and hence we are compelled to raise our 
price. We, however, wish to make the 
following announcement 

The Christian Cynosure is offered 
to new subscribers, as well as to our pres- 
ent readers who may wish to renew their 
subscriptions, until January 15th, 1920, 
at the old price of $1. After that date 
the regular subscription fee will be $1.50. 
Many of our readers will do well to take 
advantage of this offer by renewing their 
subscriptions of by sending the Cyno- 
sure to a friend as a Christmas gift to 
be enjoyed throughout the coming year. 



COMFORTING WORDS TO SECEDERS 

"He that doeth truth cometh to the 
light that his deeds may be made mani- 
fest that they are wrought of God." Per- 
haps the eyes of some lodge seceder may 
fall upon these words and we are anixous 
to help you receive more light. There 
are many people today who are contented 
to only hear the truth, or to speak about 
the truth, but the child of God doctli the 
truth. To the man who doeth the truth, 
the Lord can point to him as a marvelous 
piece of His own grace. This man fol- 



250 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



lows his own conviction of the truth, no 
matter where it may lead him. Perse- 
cutions often follow the man who doeth 
the truth. People are often tempted 
from pressing forward into the light by 
such questions as "What will the people 
say" or "Will not my friends desert me 
if I take this step." Keep following the 
light and leave the consequences with the 
Lord! If following the light leads to 
persecution, you have the joy of 
knowing that the God of truth is on your 
side and will never forsake you, and all 
your losses on earth will be made to count 
infinite gain. God is the ''Father of 
lights" and he invites you and me to come 
to Him for wisdom and light. 



FIELD NOTES. 

BV SECRETARY PHILLIPS. 

Dear Brother Leaman : 

The two articles in the November 
Cynosure having the absent Editor as 
their subject was taking advantage of 
me with a vengeance. But I am of the 
opinion of Mark Twain, when notice of 
his death appeared in the press he said, 
"The statement is greatly exaggerated." 
The Scriptures say "Let another praise 
thee and not thine own mouth." Hence 
I suppose I ought to forgive you, though 
I do not measure up to the high mark 
set by my kind friends, the writers. They 
were undoubtedly sincere and only a 
stone man would be unmoved by their 
words of appreciation and commenda- 
tion. Hope I may be more deserving in 
the future. I shall be if you pray more 
for the work and for me. 

There were so many matters requiring 
attention following my return from the 
East that I shall have to make my work 
in Nebraska shorter than was planned. 

Something was accomplished in Blue 
Springs and Humboldt, but the most 
time and effort were given to Lincoln, 
the capitol of Nebraska. 

It was something of a surprise to find 
seven anti-secret churches in Lincoln. 
The different pastors of these churches 
were unacquainted with the fact, and 
for the most part with each other. They 
will not meet together and gain mutual 
strength from each other's experience 
and councils. To accomplish that was 
worth this trip. Rev. O. F. Engelbrecht 



as per my request will act as secretary 
and arrange for meetings. 

That accomplishment was not the only 
evidence, however, of the blessing of 
God upon the work. An envelope con- 
taining two or three brief important 
facts about the lodge which Christians 
and young people especially ought to 
know was placed in many homes and 
plans were made to do the same for all 
the homes in Lincoln. About ten thou- 
sand more packages are thus to be dis- 
tributed. Three of these pastors have 
volunteered to overlook the work and 
help to see that it is properly and effi- 
ciently done. In my judgment that is 
a work of greater value than can be 
measured by us. The work is being done 
prayerfully and hence our faith in its 
efficacy. - 

I found no lack of opportunities of 
speaking publicly or privately on this 
great cause. I shall always remember 
with pleasure my Sunday school and 
church audience on Sunday morning, 
November 2nd, in the Church of the 
Brethren, Rev. J. R. Smith, pastor. His 
wife is a special friend of the wife of 
Elder I. J. Rosenberger, one of the N. 
C. A.'s staunchest friends and helpers. 

I was invited by the Lincoln Min- 
isters' Association to speak before them. 
The warm commendation of the rector 
of the wealthy Episcopal Church, who 
said he was in hearty accord with my 
views on the lodge, is unusual. I was 
also encouraged by having a Baptist 
pastor present invite me to speak to his 
congregation on the following Sunday 
morning. 



EASTERN SECRETARY'S REPORT. 

REV. W. B. STODDARD. 

I am attending the World's Christian 
Citizenship Conference being held in this 
city. We are told by the President this 
is not a meeting of the National Reform 
Association, but a conference held under 
its auspices. It is in many ways a great 
gathering. Surely those in charge are 
to be congratulated in getting together so 
much of talent. The discussions take a 
wide range, comprehending what should 
be the political and social relations of the 
nations, down to the dealing of the 
people on smaller matters. An English- 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



251 



man, for instance, spoke at length in an 
effort to show that England's dealings 
with India have been just, rather than 
otherwise, as some had claimed. 

Yesterday (November 13th) was Mor- 
mon Day. As the truths regarding that 
system were brought to light, great was 
the interest manifest. A Mormon elder, 
by the name of Talmage, appeared to 
defend that system of dark iniquity. He 
was brought to the platform and ques- 
tioned. His slick way of seeking to 
dodge was discovered, and much truth 
brought out. The anti-Mormon speakers 
claimed that polygamy was still taught 
by the Mormon propaganda. This the 
elder denied while claiming its practice 
was formerly right. The evidence seemed 
overwhelming that the former ideas in 
the matter prevailed. 

Today (November 14th) is Temper- 
ance Day, and some of the national 
speakers on that line are to be heard 
from. The anti-lodge question does not 
appear on the program, but naturally ap- 
pears in some degree as this is a gather- 
ing of Christians seeking to get and give 
light. One of the speakers scored secret 
diplomacy. His statement that neither 
capital nor labor could gain by such 
methods, but that the public must be 
taken into a consideration of the matter, 
received much applause. Surely secret 
societies are showing their opposition to 
the public good more than ever in these 
days of public tribulation ! 

Since my last report my work has 
progressed along usual lines. Plans were 
largely carried out regarding the New 
York and Boston meetings. I spoke by 
invitation to a Brotherhood gathering of 
men in the Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
Presbyterian Church. There were many 
present who did not agree with me, some 
suggested further discussion, and some 
commended what I said. I got into touch 
through pastoral meetings with several 
of the New England clergy who had not 
known of our work, who expressed an 
interest. I was disappointed in the ar- 
rangement of two meetings expected in 
New Jersey, but disappointments are not 
uncommon in unpopular reforms. The 
meetings anticipated will likely develop 
for more opportune times if the Lord so 
leads. 

On Sabbath, November 2nd, I spoke 



to a full house in the Presbyterian 
Church, East Falls Church, Virginia. 
Since coming to this section I have 
spoken in the Free Methodist Church, 
Bridgeport, and the Church of the 
Brethren, near Mount Pleasant, Pennsyl- 
vania. The latter meeting was largely 
attended. Both give invitations to re- 
turn. A "drop in meeting" at the Men- 
nonite Publishing House, Scottdale, 
Pennsylvania, was cheering and helpful. 
Your representative was given the larger 
portion of the time in the prayer meeting 
held. I found the printing presses run- 
ning day and night in an effort to keep 
up with the large increasing volume of 
business. While in Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, I looked in on a state gathering 
of W. C. T. U. women and listened with 
interest to an address given by Mrs. 
Anna E. Stoddard, regarding her de- 
partment in that work. She is seeking 
to train those who are to be efficient 
workers in the varied departments of 
that association. Surely there is great 
need for careful training of those who 
may do efficient work. 

I was saddened to learn that two of 
our splendid helpers had been recently 
called by death. Rev. William Schoen- 
feld, a well-known leader among our 
Missouri Lutheran friends, was called 
suddenly while from his New York 
home, seeking the rest of vacation. He 
was a great man, and will be greatly 
missed. Rev. Jacob Cassel, of Lansdale, 
Pennsylvania, was a leader in the Breth- 
ren Church, and bore faithful testimony 
against the lodges. I have many times 
received entertainment and encourage- 
ment at his home. 

Elder D. W. Rose invites me to ad- 
dress a quarterly meeting of Free Metho- 
dists at Tarentum, . Pennsylvania, this 
week. A goodly number of Cynosure 
subscriptions are being secured. They 
say the strike is being settled, and pros- 
pects are as bright as the promises of 
God. 



WORK IN NEBRASKA. 

The following letter, dated November 
8th, 1919, from Rev. O. F. Engelbrecht, 
pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church of Our Redeemer, located in 
Lincoln, Nebraska, is so interesting and 



252 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



encouraging we wish to share it with our 

readers : 

"Rev. A. H. Leaman, 

"Chicago, Illinois. 

"Dear Sir : From the November Cyno- 
sure I notice you are editing the mag- 
azine for this month. You will be inter- 
ested to learn that the regular editor, 
Mr. William I. Phillips, has been in 
Lincoln for about a week to advance the 
interests of the Association and the work 
for which it was organized. I had the 
pleasure of spending several hours in his 
company. Though acquainted with each 
other through correspondence, this was 
the first time we had met personally. 

"While Lincoln is a city of churches 
and colleges, there are comparatively 
few conservative churches. It was my 
opinion heretofore that the Lutheran 
churches of the Missouri Synod were 
the only organizations in Lincoln that 
opposed lodges. It was for Mr. Phillips 
to develop the fact that we have quite a 
number of pastors in this city who are 
alive to the lodge evil, and, though not 
all oppose it in their congregations, there 
are some who are outspoken on the sub- 
ject. 

"The writer has been told time and 
again, 'Why is it that only the Missouri 
Synod is opposed to lodges, while all the 
other churches in the city receive lodge 
members into fellowship?' Not infre- 
quently we hear it said that 'the Missouri 
Synod will have to come to it sooner or 
later, if it wishes to hold its own/ As 
to the last remark, it seems to me that 
when any church ceases to testify against 
the sinfulness of the lodge, and not only 
receives lodge members into communion, 
but permits its pastors to join secret or- 
ganizations, there can be little spiritual- 
ity left in such an organization. To be 
sure, you will build up a large member- 
ship, the congregation may be able to 
erect a magnificent church edifice, and 
the pastor may receive a handsome 
salary, but the real life and spirituality 
of that church has been sapped out. And 
so I would rather be the pastor of a 
small congregation that opposes secret 
lodges, that upholds the gospel of Jesus 
Christ and teaches its members to ob- 
serve all things that the Master has 
commanded us, than to be the pastor of 
a large liberal church, I was very glad 



indeed to learn that there are churches 
other than the Missouri Lutheran in this 
city that oppose the lodge system. 

"Mr. Phillips has made plans accord- 
ing to which he hopes to cover the city 
in due time with tracts showing the sin- 
fulness of the lodge and the inconsis- 
tency of belonging to both the lodge and 
the church of Jesus Christ. Some time 
in the near future the pastors in Lincoln 
who are. opposed to secret orders expect 
to get together to discuss ways and 
means by which the public may become 
informed as to the sinfulness of the 
lodge system. Perhaps it will be possible 
to report some progress after this get- 
together. 

"Yours for consistent loyalty to Christ 
and His word, I remain, 

"Cordially yours 
"(Signed) O. F. Engelbrecht." 



LIZZIE WOODS' LETTER. 

Dear Cynosure: 

This writing leaves me in North Car- 
olina, still upholding the banner of 
Jesus Christ. The Lord has wonder- 
fully blessed my work for Him in every 
place I have had meetings. 

You will remember I told you in my 
last letter of my experience in Camp- 
stella, Va., how some Freemasons came 
into the church to try to stop me from 
selling "Freemasonry at a Glance." 
Well, after I left Campstella, these 
Masons went from house to house to 
see how many people in town had bought 
one of these books and told them if they 
did not give them up they would burn 
their homes down to the ground and 
also said, "that old lady ought to have 
her throat cut from ear to ear." I said to 
the man who told me, "I have never 
sworn to have my throat cut because I 
have never taken the Entered Appren- 
tice Degree of Masonry. I would have 
more sense, if I were a man, than to let 
a bunch of lodge preachers, deacons, 
class leaders, whoremongers, thieves, 
liars, drunkards, bootleggers, gamblers, 
etc., take me behind closed doors and 
take off my clothes until I was half 
naked and then put a rope around my 
neck and a hoodwink over my eyes and 
make me swear like a fool to have my 
throat cut should I ever violate my oaths 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



253 



and obligations to Masonry." "No," I 
said, "my modesty would not stoop to 
a thing like that even if I was a sinner. 
I am so glad that I am a Christian and 
am saved from sin. God forbid that I 
sin any more." 

Then I said to the brother, "Don't you 
see the principle of Freemasonry? Now 
all those men that came to wait on me 
were preachers. How much influence for 
good do you think a set of cut-throats 
like that have in leading people to God. 
That is the trouble with our country to- 
day. We have a few God-sent minis- 
ters who proclaim the old gospel of sal- 
vation in Christ Jesus, but there are too 
many 'cut-throats' leading men to bind 
themselves together for worldly pur- 
poses. I find among all the people, white 
and colored, that there are some serving 
just a name — not the name of Jesus, 
however. They will argue and talk about 
being a Methodist, Baptist, a Mason, 
Odd-Fellow, Knight of Pythias, Elk, 
Snake, Jugawa, etc., but do you hear 
them talk about the name of Jesus in 
reverence ? Never \" 

I did not have time to return to Camp- 
stella, but upon receiving my last sup- 
ply of rituals and lodge literature I sent 
them with a missionary sister who was 
to visit this town and she sold all of 
the books. She not only showed them 
in the church, but on the street cars 
also and everywhere she went she would 
say, "Come here, Masons and other 
lodge folks, and see how God is opening 
up your secret work to save others from 
the lodge snare. Now you talk about 
cutting Sister Roberson's throat and 
burning down your neighbors' homes be- 
cause God sent the Word through our 
Sister Roberson. Such actions will not 
stop the testimonies which are being 
given every day against secret societies. 
You will have to kill seventeen different 
denominations and the publishing men 
who supply the books and the Cynosure 
folks. I am going to see what Sister 
Roberson can do in arranging with the 
National Christian Association that I sell 
nothing but lodge literature and rituals, 
for I travel a great deal." "O !" said the 
man, "don't be so hard on us. We now 
see where the books are printed. We're 
satisfied and don't mean to hurt anyone." 
Well God gave us the victory and many 



good honest-hearted Christians in Camp- 
stella told these Masonic preachers 
that it "was a shame to treat that woman 
like you all did because she told us the 
truth about lodge religion." 

I also went to Windsor, North Caro- 
lina, last month and held a meeting there 
in the Church of God in Christ. A Bap- 
tist brother who lived about six miles 
from Windsor asked that I come to their 
church, located in Indian Woods. I told 
him I would go and be with them two 
evenings and he said, "all right, but don't 
mention anything about the lodges over 
there. If you do they will sure kill you. 
Them niggers in Indian W^oods are 
bad." "Well," I said, "I will go, for 
Jesus came to this world to save bad 
colored folks as well as bad white folks 
and we will go to Indian Woods with 
the Word of God and preach whatever 
God wishes us to preach." I went as 
promised and never was treated better 
in all my life. They listened to the Word 
of God and said "Amen" and not only 
treated me cordially, but when it was 
time for me to leave Indian Woods they 
gave me $20 and bid me God-speed and 
said, "we wish you lived down here in 
North Carolina, for you have made the 
Bible more plain to us." 

After leaving Windsor, I went to 
Oakwood, Virginia, and held an eight 
da) s' meeting there. One woman said 
her husband had sent her for a Masonic 
ritual, an Odd-Fellows' ritual and also 
the ritual of the Knights of Pythias. I 
sold them to her and told the lodge 
brothers present they could have their 
secrets all written out if they wished 
them. 

I then went to South Hill, Virginia. 
The people in this town said "if that 
woman comes here we will not give her 
a place to stay.'' But praise the Lord, 1 
kept my appointment and stayed in 
South Hill three whole days. I stopped 
with the nicest little Baptist woman and 
she was a lodge member herself. She 
said, "the Word of God is right. The 
Bible said we must live holy and I want 
to live for God and am going to give Up 
my lodge interests." I was also given 
$io and was urged to stay the entire 
week, but work called me elsewhere. 

1 have learned long ago that the Devil 
tries his hardest to hold people under 



254 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



December, 1919. 



his power, but God's old Bible when it 
is made plain to them and they begin to 
really live a life of separation and of 
Christian service the Devil cannot hold 
out any longer. He has got to go when 
the Word of God sets after him, for "he 
is a liar, and the father of it." (John 
8:44). I left South Hill for Petersburg, 
Virginia, which I reached on the 30th 
of October, and held a seven days' meet- 
ing there. When I began to tell about 
the secret work of the Devil one big 
black man arose in the rear of the church 
and spoke aloud to his wife, "Come out 
of here." She went out with him and 
about two dozen others followed them. 
But the other people stayed and listened 
to the Word of God and were glad to 
hear it explained. One night somebody 
threw a large stone and struck the 
church, but we went right on teaching. 

Many have given up their sins at my 
meetings as I have gone from town to 
town. I am now in Rockingham, North 
Carolina, where I shall stay for a few 
days. I expect to leave on the eleventh 
of November for Omaha, Nebraska. 
Pray for me. Yours in the Lord's work. 
Lizzie W. Roberson. 



SOUTHERN AGENT'S REPORT. 

REV. F. J. DAVIDSON. 

The mills of the gods grind slowly, but 
exceedingly fine. Faithful men and wom- 
en have been praying and working for 
national women's suffrage and national 
prohibition for more than fifty years. Al- 
though there has been countless difficul- 
ties to overcome and tremendous heights 
to surmount, amendments submitting 
these questions to the states have passed 
Congress and a number of states have 
already acted favorably upon them. This 
should greatly encourage the N. C. A. 
workers to continue working and pray- 
ing for the overthrow of the entire 
secret lodge system, their oaths, obliga- 
tions and death penalties. Jesus said, 
"Every plant not planted by my heavenly 
Father shall be rooted up." It is clear 
from the teaching of the Scriptures that 
our Heavenly Father did not plant the 
secret lodges. There is nothing so dan- 
gerous and undermining to society, 
detrimental to the Church and a demo- 
cratic form of government as is the secret 



lodge system. If the Church does not 
awake to duty and separate itself from 
the world, the Roman Catholic Church 
and the secret lodge will disrupt our gov- 
ernment and overthrow our republican 
institutions. 

The labor unions have staggered com- 
merce, paralyzed business, thrown thou- 
sands of workmen out of employment 
and caused necessities to soar sky-high. 
Here in Louisiana, the greatest sugar and 
rice producing state in the country, we 
are paying twenty-five cents a pound for 
sugar, and fifteen cents a pound for rice. 
Yet the lodges are rapidly increasing and 
enslaving the people. I am still crying 
out against these monsters of iniquity. 

Since my last letter I have delivered 
four anti-lodge sermons, four lectures, 
made forty calls — reading the Bible and 
praying at each home — and secured 
many Cynosure subscribers. 

Pray for me and my church that we 
may be strong and courageous. 



CONTRIBUTIONS. 

S. A. Crunkleton, $10; Louis Joh, 
$10; C. Coe Shaw, $8; A. H. Leaman, 
$3; O. N. Barnes, $10; N. S. Couto 
Esher (Brazil), $2; collection by Rev. 
J. B. Van den Hock, $25 ; George W. 
Bond, $4.37; a friend in Mass., $20; R. 
A. McCoy, 50c; S. R. Davis, 50c; J. E. 
Phillips, $5 ; G. M. Robb, $2 ; S. G. Con- 
ner, $1 ; G. W. Fischer, $1 ; A. G. An- 
derson, $1 ; a friend, $1 ; W. I. Phillips, 
$10.90; Fred T. Stevenson, $1; from 
President Malcolm, Iowa Christian As- 
sociation, $30; Wm. Leon Brown, $20; 
Chas. C. Maderia, $12 ; Chas. A. Fisch- 
er, $4; John R. Daily, $1 ; J. D. Rock- 
well, $1 ; Mrs. E. D. Taggart, $1 ; 
Charles L. Todd, $7. 

Mrs. Mary G. Manter, Life Member- 
ship, $50; Mrs. Mary G. Manter, in 
memory of her father, $50. 

We have received the following Chris- 
tian Reformed Churches : Classis Illinois, 
$22.07, $31.56, $35, $10; Corsica, South 
Dakota, $64.07; Pease, Minnesota, 
$49.25 ; Goshen, Indiana, $2.50; Jenison, 
Michigan, $5; Classis Pacific, $26.16; 
Eastern Avenue, Grand Rapids, Michi- 
gan, $50. 

From the Estate of John A. Conant, 

$573.86; 



December, 1919. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



255 



TESTIMONIES OF STATESMEN 


"DANIEL 


WEBSTER 


American States- 


man and Jurist 






"I have no hesitation in saying that how- 




p# ■■• • 




1 


ever unobjectionable may have been the 




\ 


original objects of the institution, or however 




\ X**~**%, 


pure may be the motives and purposes of the 




1 m 


individual members, and notwithstanding 




1 „ 1 


th« many great and good men who have 




from time to time belonged to the order, 




fll ^8&: H 


yet, nevertheless, it is an institution which 




in my judgment is essentially wrong in the 






principle of its formation 5 that from its very 
nature it is liable to great abuses ; that among 
the obligations which are found to be im- 






posed on its members, there are such as are 






entirely incompatible with the duty of good 




Jg €k V ^dfl :' Sfefefc* 


citizens; and that all secret associations, the 




^Hi j&M HeU^I 


members of which take upon themselves 
extraordinary obligations to one another, and 
are bound together by secret oaths, are nat- 
urally sources of jealousy and just alarm to 




hhkP mm 


others; are especially unfavorable to harmony 




.-■:■■ '; ■■; 


and mutual confidence among men living 




together under popular institutions, and are 




dangerous to the general cause of civil liberty 
and good government. Under the influence 






DANIEL WEBSTER 


of this conviction it is my opinion that the 




future administration of all such oaths, and 


the formation of all such obligations, should be prohibited by law." — Letter dated Boston, November 


ao, 1835. 




GENERAL U. S. GRANT 


"All secret, oathbound political parties are 


dangerous to any nation, no matter how pure or 


how patriotic the motives and principles which first bring them together." — In his autobiography. 


CHARLES SUMNER 
Eminent American States- 






f "™i 




man, Senator and Orator 


pi - ; ^;-- ; . 1 




"I find two powers here in Washington 






in harmony, and both are antagonistical to 






our free institutions, and tend to centraliza- 


• 




tion and anarchy — Freemasonry and Slavery, 






and they must both be destroyed if our 






country is to be the home of the free, as our 






ancestors designed it.'' — Letter to Samuel 


jjm W&mm 




D. Greene, Chelsea, Mass. 


'" v— — W& 




CHARLES FRANCIS 


f*MT 




cADAMS 






"Every man who takes a Masonic oath 


^KHflP^fl 




forbids himself from divulging any criminal 


-4JBm W&G&sto^m 




act, unless it might be murder or treason 


WF Jmm 




that may be communicated to him under the 


fir j^fp 




seal of fraternal bond, even though such 


8P jtfMKBBm 




concealment were to prove a burden upon 


M 




his conscience and a violation of his bounden 


* 




duty to society and to his God. 


_-j 




"A more perfect agent for the devising 
and execution of conspiracies against Church 




- 


and State could scarcely have been con- 


CHARLES SUMNER 


ceived.'' 





Special Notice 

Christian Cynosure, 32 page monthly, $1.50 per year. 

The Board of Directors have been compelled to raise 
the subscription price of our magazine, as is an- 
nounced iti this number on another page by Acting 
Editor A. H. Leaman. We are trusting that our 
friends will not only take notice of the fact that be- 
ginning with January 15th the new subscription price 
comes into effect but will rally to the support of the 
Board of Directors, who are giving their time freely 
without pay and are doing the best that they can in 
these troublesome times to meet the rising cost of pub- 
lication. All subscriptions received previous to the 
above date will, of course, be at the old rate. 



Scotch Rite Masonry 

The publishers have increased 
the price of Scotch Rite 
Masonry, two volumes, to 
$2.50 in paper and $4 in cloth. 




VOL. LII. 



CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1920. 




3 J^eto gear's (greeting to our 
many frienbs anb coworkers. We 
tfjanfe pou for pour Jjelp, pour spm= 
patfjp anb pour prapers Cor us anb 
tfje Cause anb trust toe map be of 
greater serbice buring tbc coming 
pear. TOje officers, agents, anb 
office force of tfje iSattonal Cfjris= 
ttan Association join in senbing pou 
ijeartp goob toisftes for tfje Jleto 
gear. Me fjope tftat 1920 toill be 
full of fjealtf) anb jop anb tftat tfje 
"giber of eberp goob anb perfect 
gift" map fill pour cup of blessings 
to oberflotoing. 



No. 9. , 

i ' i 




OFFICIAL ORGAN, NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
15 CENTS A COPY ESTABLISHED 1868. $1.50 A YEAR 



Ai'bauri 



VOL LII. NO. 9, 



CHICAGO 



IANUARY 1920. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 

Published Monthly by the National Christian 
Association. 



WM. I. PHILLIPS 

S50 West Madison Street, Chicago. 

Managing Editor. 

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

PRICE— Per year, in advance, $1.50; three 
months, on trial, thirty-five cents; single 
copies, fifteen cents. 

PRESENTATION COPIES— Many persons sub- 
scribe for the Christian Cynosure to be sent 
to FRIENDS. In such cases, if we are advised 
that a subscription is a present and not regu- 
larly authorized by the recipient, we wi 
make a memorandum to discontinue at ex- 
piration, and to send no bill for the ensuing 
year. 

BUSINESS LETTERS should be addressed to 
Wm. I. Phillips, Gen. Secy., at the above ad- 
dress. 

Entered as Second-class matter May 19, 1897, 
dt the Post Office at Chicago,. 111., under Act of 
\larca 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



New Year's Greeting • -Cover 

Another Year, poem by Frances R. Hav- ^ 

ergal • 

A Call to Consecration and Prayer 259 

Mormon Effrontery 260 

Be Ye Steadfast, Immovable, by Pres. 

C. A. Blanchard * bl 

A Candid Talk on Lodgism as the Hand- 
maiden of the Church, by Rev. Martin 

L. Wagner ^ b4 

Why I Do Not Join the Lodge, by A. D. 

Wenger • • Jb ' 

Averaging Matters with the Lord 270 

Write To-day 270 

Items of Interest from Friends 271 

A Word About the American Christian 

' Daily 272 

Theses on Secret Society Question .. 275 

Testimonies of Pastors 276 

Treatise on Secret Societies. From Manual 
of Bible Doctrines, by Daniel Kauffman. 277 



News of Our Work: 

Attention, Easterners 281 

Eastern Secretary's Report, Rev. W. B. 

Stoddard 281 

Western Agent's Report, Rev. J. B. Van 
den Hoek 283 

"Lizzie Woods' Letter," by Mrs. L. R. 
Roberson 284 

Southern Agent's Report, by Rev. F. J. 
Davidson 285 

Three Great Needs of the Day, by 
M. H. Jackson 285 

Testimonies of Evangelists 287 



NATIONAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA- 
TION. 



President, Rev. John F. Heemstra; 
Vice-President, Rev. J. H. B. Williams ; 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. F. H. Peter- 
son ; Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. I. Phil- 
lips. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 

M. P. F. Doermann, Thomas C. Mc- 
Knight, D. S. Warner, C. A. Blanchard, 
P. A. Kittilsby, H. A. Fischer, Jr., 
George Slager, A. H. Leaman, George 
W. Bond, J. H. Hoekstra and H. J. 
Kuiper. 



LECTURERS. 

Those desiring lectures or addresses 
may write to any of the speakers named 
below : 

Rev. W. B. Stoddard, Box 94, East 
Falls Church, Virginia 

Rev. Adam Murrman, Slatington, Pa. 

Rev. J. B. Van den Hoek, Volga, 
South Dakota. 

Rev. F. J. Davidson, 2512 14th St., 
New Orleans, Lsi. 

Mrs. Lizzie W. Roberson, 311 W. 24th 
St., Argenta, Ark. 

Pres. C. A. Blanchard, Wheaton, 111. 



There is none 
other Name 
under heaven, 
given among 
men, whereby 
we must be 
saved. 

— Acts 4:12 



CHRISTIAN 

CYNOSURE 



Jesus answered 


him: I 


spake 


openly 


to the 


world, 


and in 


secret 


have I 


said nothing. 


— Joh 


n 18:20 



JP^EF 



ANOTHER YEAR. 

Another year is dawning! 

Dear Father, let it be 
In working or in waiting 

Another year to Thee. 

Another year of leaning 
Upon Thy loving breast, 

Of ever-deepening trustfulness, 
Of quiet, happy rest. 

Another year of mercies, 
Of faithfulness and grace; 

Another year of gladness 
In the shining of Thy face. 



Another year of progress, 
Another year of praise, 

Another year of proving 

Thy presence "all the days." 

Another year of service, 
Of witness for Thy love; 

Another year of training 
For holier work above. 

Another year is dawning! 

Dear Father, let it be 
On earth or else in Heaven, 

Another year to Thee ! 

— Frances R. Haver gal. 



"Read the Bible and it brings you 
into the association of the best people 
that ever lived. You stand beside Moses, 
and learn his meekness ; beside Job, and 
learn his patience; beside Abraham, and 
learn his faith ; beside Daniel, and learn 
his courage to do right ; and beside 
Isaiah, and learn his fiery indignation to- 
ward the evil-doer; beside Paul, and 
catch something of his enthusiasm ; be- 
side Christ, and you feel His love." — 
S pur g eon. 



A CALL TO CONSECRATION AND 
PRAYER. 

The following is an extract from a 
letter sent out by the "Great Commission 
Prayer League." It points out present 
conditions so clearly that we pass it on 
for meditation by our readers : 

The time has come when the church 
must go to God for itself before it can 
go to God for a lost world. Prayerless 
churches are powerless churches — from 
God's point of view — no matter how 
full of "good works." 

The church of the New Testament 
that lost its vision was a working 
church ; "nevertheless," said Christ, "I 
have somewhat against thee, because 
thou hast left thy first love. Remember, 
therefore, from whence thou are fallen, 
and repent, and do thy first works." 

Is not the first work of the church 
individual regeneration, rather than mak- 
ing white the outside of the social and 
civic cup? 

The church, the salt of the earth, must 
evangelize the world or be swallowed up 
by a world reverting to barbarism, but 
it must re-evangelize itself first. And it 
can do this only by entering anew the 
powerhouse of confession and repent- 
ance and prayer, and of self-purging. It 
must cease its toleration of unholy al- 
liances, of undisciplined membership, of 
Sabbath-breaking, of worldly pleasure- 
seeking, of ecclesiastical wire-pulling, of 
secret-society domination, of the unequal 
yoke with unbelievers, of the teaching 
of "damnable heresies" that "drown 
men's souls in perdition," of "seducing 
spirits" and "doctrines of devils." It must 
humble itself. It must "cry aloud, and 
spare not" — to itself, and then to the 
world. It must "preach Christ and Him 
crucified" — its only hope and the world's 
only hope. 



260 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



January, 1920. 



The world today is politically and 
socially and industrially in turmoil, be- 
cause the church of the Son of God has 
practically ceased evangelizing in the 
power of its "first love." It has cut loose 
its moorings and is being "carried about 
with every wind of doctrine, by the 
sleight of men'' who "lie in wait to de- 
ceive" by stealthily substituting social 
service panaceas for personal salvation 
from sin. What wonder that "the whole 
head is sick, and the whole heart faint?" 

The very foundations of society the 
world over are being shaken — political 
disorder, social disorder, industrial dis- 
order, religious disorder — ferment and 
upheaval everywhere. "If the founda- 
tion be destroyed, what can the righteous 
do?" 

But the Lord is still accessible by 
prayer. And today multiplied thousands 
of believers throughout the world are 
liftting up their eyes anew "unto the 
hills, from whence cometh their help." 



1920. 

O New Year, white and pure and fair. 
What sunshine boldest thou in store? 

What shadows hidden lie in days 
Which stretch all unexplored before? 



Here at thy threshold, breathing low 

A prayer that God will lead and guide, 
We enter at the open door, 



eiiLci ai me upen uuui, 

e cast all care and fear aside. 



It may be that the angel Joy 

Will walk with swift, light steps be- 
side, 
It mav be Sorrow's tender hands 

Will clasp our own some eventide. 

But "God will lead !" this is the star 
AVhose rays make bright the untried 
ways, 

This is the promised staff and strong 
On which we lean through all the days. 

And so with faith and hope and love, 
With courage strong and purpose 
clear, 
We smile into thy upturned face, 

And give thee welcome true, New 
Year ! —Selected. 



MORMON EFFRONTERY. 

Mormonism appeared in person at the 
recent World's Christian Citizenship 
Conference in Pittsburgh and claimed 
for itself a hearing there. Its spokesman 
was Apostle James E. Talmadge, one of 
its "Prophets, Seers and Revelators" 
and its ablest theological controversialist. 

His demand for a hearing was denied 
as a right by Dr. James S. Martin, the 
presiding officer of the day, on the 
grounds that Mormonism was distinctly 
non-Christian and its apostles could not 
claim place in any assembly whose whole 
character and work and purpose was dis- 
tinctly Christian. 

But as a courtesy Talmadge was heard 
and then questioned. He admitted the 
teaching of polygamy by his church, as 
a divinely ordained system of marriage, 
although he disavowed the present 
practice. 

Mrs. Lulu Loveland Shepard chal- 
lenged him to state whether or not he 
was wearing the secret undergarment 
which is placed upon priests and priest- 
esses in the esoteric rites of the Mormon 
temples and which is the ever-present 
symbol of the awful oaths — the treacher- 
ous and blasphemous oaths — which the 
priests and priestesses take in the revolt- 
ing ceremonial. Talmadge refused to 
answer and he declined to demonstrate 
to a committee of gentlemen — in fact, he 
tacitly admitted the wearing of the secret 
garment. 

The significance of Apostle Tal- 
madge's appearance and utterance is 
twofold : First, Mormonism, which has 
always bitterly denounced evangelical 
Christianity, is now seeking to frater- 
nize. Second, Mormonism admits the 
present teaching of polygamy. 

And the significance of the conference 
action in refusing to the apostle any 
hearing as a right will go far to clarify 
the issue. Mormonism is distinctly anti- 
Christian ; and its emissaries have no 
proper place and are not entitled as a 
rieht to any hearing in any Christian 
bodv. 



A family without prayer is like a house 
without a roof, it has no protection. The 
prayer of faith is more efficient than a 
lightning rod or a life insurance policy. 



January, 1920. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



261 



Be Ye Steadfast, Immovable 

BY PRESIDENT BLANCHARD, WHEATOX 
COLLEGE, WH EATON, ILL. 



Things which can be shaken, will be 
shaken ; that the things that cannot be 
shaken, will remain. I was talking with 
a friend in an Illinois town recently and 
he remarked that lodges are evanescent. 
He said the Masons came in town a while 
back and made a great rumpus ; they held 
a revival meeting and got in a lot of 
young fellows ; for a time their meetings 
were largely attended ; then the men got 
tired of seeing others haltered, hood- 
winked, stripped and sworn ; they did 
not seem to care for the silly little 
catechism of opening and closing and 
simply would not come out ; they stayed 
away. Then the Odd-Fellows came. 
They said they had something different 
and better; they had their revival meet- 
ing and got in their converts, but pretty 
soon they, too, got tired. "Man in dark- 
ness and in chains looking at a skeleton 
in the bottom of a coffin is not a particu- 
larly inspiring sight." Their meetings 
ran down too ; then came along the 
Knights of Pythias ; their evangelists 
said that they were far better than the 
Masons or the Odd Fellows ; their agents 
worked the town and got in quite a lot 
of men. The "jiners" were in all three 
of these organizations ; men who had 
less money, or more sense, or happier 
homes, would join one and then drop out. 
I think the description which he gave of 
his town would be a fair record of the 
lodge transactions in thousands of vil- 
lages and cities. 

We have in this country, at the present 
time, more than three hundred different 
lodges ; I do not know the exact num- 
ber; if I did, it would not be the exact 
number tomorrow. Some impecunious 
lodge man would invent a new order, if 
the old ones were catalogued. As Dr. 
Gifford, of Boston, said years ago you 



might as well try to take the census of 
the lice in Egypt. It would seem that a 
fact like this would put thoughtful people 
to thinking, what is the reason that men 
tire of their lodges? Why must there 
be a succession of new ones varying a 
little from the older ones, in order to 
keep up interest? I suppose it is be- 
cause there is no substantial basis in 
piety, or reason, or even any financial 
interests for a secret society. Such or- 
ganizations are essentially fraudulent; 
they appeal to trifling or base motives. 
Men are asked to join them to find out 
something which is not worth knowing, 
and which they speedily forget ; they 
are told that they will get office, or 
clients, or patients, or customers, or posi- 
tions, and pretty soon they find that the 
men they are trying to work, work them. 

I know a judge, a bright and capable 
man, who was kindly and gentle in spirit 
and would have attained to influence and 
position if he had never joined any 
lodge ; he joined perhaps a half a dozen ; 
I do not know exactly how many, but 
while he did secure some preferment 
through their influence, he got a lot of 
friends who he could have afforded to 
dispose of very cheaply ; they worked 
him all the time and when he died, nearly 
one-half his estate was made up of cats 
and dogs which his brethren had got him 
to buy. This is only one instance ; cases 
like it are numberless ; thoughtful men 
who are purely of the world learn facts 
like these, and if they have, in their 
youth, become connected with such or- 
ganizations, they drop out and leave 
them to those who have less intelligence. 
The Three Institutions of Divine Origin. 

Meanwhile here are the great institu- 
tions divinely constituted and maintained 



262 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



January, 1920. 



because of the reason of the case which 
outlasts age after age. The family, the 
church and civil government arise from 
the nature of man and the necessities of 
his being. We are born into families, we 
do not join them; we are not initiated; 
we are children of our parents and par- 
ents of our children and all the great in- 
terests of society are founded upon this 
primary one. The family began with the 
race and will not end until the race has 
passed from this life into the eternal 
ages. It is one of the things which can- 
not be shaken and therefore will abide. 

But though the family cannot be de- 
stroyed it can be marred and to do this is 
the great effort of the adversary. It 
sometimes seems as if Satan hates the 
family worse even than the church; the 
family is fundamental to the church. 
Christian families make churches. 
Churches do not establish families ; they 
direct the family instinct of men; they 
help to make families what they ought to 
be, but the church is built on the fam- 
ily, not the family on the church. 

The Church Cannot Be Destroyed. 

The church, however, is like the fam- 
ily, one of the unshakables; the gates of 
hell have never prevailed against it; can 
never prevail against it, this is the word 
of Jesus Christ Himself. Like the family 
the church can be injured, but it cannot 
be destroyed. Husbands and wives may 
be vain, loolish and disloyal but their 
children will go on establishing families 
as from the beginning. Churches may 
be injured by pride, vanity, worldliness, 
ambition and all the other spiritual vices 
which like to nest in the human heart, 
but the church goes on, must go on from 
the very nature of the case. "Like it or 
not," says Dr. Bowne, "man is incurably 
religious. Ignorant or enlightened, rich 
or poor, it makes no difference, he is 
built for God, he may fail of attaining 



i 



the object of his creation, but he cannot 
avoid striving for it." 

This is the source of the great power 
of the lodges ; speaking generally, they 
are countei f eit churches ; they have the 
semblance of the church without the 
reality; they talk about God and duty 
and immortality, yet never bring men to 
the true God or assure men of a happy 
immortality. The pretense is what makes 
them go, just as a counterfeit bill secures 
currency because it resembles a real piece 
of money, but the lodges are being built 
upon faith in a false God and promising 
salvation as the result of human effort, 
rather than as a divine gift, they are the 
morally rotten, temporal, changing, 
perishing things which we find them to 
be. Poor ignorant men and women, 
driven by the religious necessities of their 
being, rush in them only to find disap- 
pointment after disappointment, while 
homes remain and churches stand fast. 

The Lodge vs. Civil Government. 

Civil government is the third great 
divine institution ; as in the family and 
in the church, men do not join civil gov- 
ernment; they are created in it and for 
it. Pure anarchy has never existed for 
any length of time ; can never exist. One 
of the leaders in the French revolution 
said, if there is no God, we must invent 
one ; it is impossible to govern men with- 
out a God; just so it is impossible to 
govern men without some form of gov- 
ernment and when the vices and crimes 
of nations have resulted in such a bedlam 
as we have at the present time in Russia, 
out of this bedlam there must come some 
madman a little more sane than the rest, 
who can gain and hold power. 

Just as lodges tend to destroy home 
and church, so they are constitutionally 
enemies of civil government. Forty 
years ago I used to tell the people that 
if the church and the state did not de- 
stroy the lodges, the lodges would de- 



January, 1920. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



263 



stroy the state and the church; this has 
always been the tendency, but at this 
time the progress seems more rapid and 
the results more threatening than ever 
before. A secret society sends men with 
bombs from ocean to ocean to destroy 
property and life ; the rulers of this lodge 
are sustained by thousands of lodge men 
who furnish them with funds and do 
their bidding. When the agents who 
blow down buildings and destroy prop- 
erty, one or two or scores of men, are 
arraigned for their crime, and the whole 
power of the organization is devoted to 
their defense. When some of these 
criminals are sentenced to imprisonment 
or death, there is a never ceasing agita- 
tion to secure their exemption from the 
penalties which they deserve. The in- 
terests of the whole nation are put in 
peril by these lawless lodge men; and 
one of them, who ought to be in the 
state's prison or lying in a felon's grave, 
stands with his watch in his hand before 
the Capitol Building in Washington and 
tells the President of the United States 
and both houses of Congress that if they 
do not within twenty-four hours pass a 
law which the lodge demands, the lodge 
will destroy the civil institutions of the 
whole country, and the President and 
both houses of Congress obey the com- 
mand of this murderer who commands 
an association of murderers. 

It is one of the hopeful tokens that the 
last three attempts of these lodge men 
to override civil government in this 
country have, for the present, at least, 
failed. We should remember, however, 
that there is no discharge in this war. 
Satan never lies down ; he fights until he 
is knocked down; and there is sufficient 
power at the command of God's people to 
destroy the lodges, if it is exercised. Our 
great danger is that we fail to appreciate 
our enemies and our resources. If we 
do not understand the former we shall be 
careless and indifferent; if we do *w>t 



understand the latter, we shall despond 
and despair. Consider, for a moment, 
the work of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, or Paul the Apostle to 
the gentiles — were the enemies who con- 
fronted them fewer in number than those 
which assail us? had they larger re- 
sources than we may command? These 
inquiries furnish their own answer; the 
people who will read these words are 
assailed by desperate foes, but they are 
also backed by infinite power. Jesus 
Christ Himself says that we should do 
greater works than He did, if we believe 
on Him; we are not endangered by our 
enemies so greatly as we are by our lack 
of courage and confidence. This world 
belongs to Jesus Christ; He created it, 
upholds it and will reign over it, and His 
people will reign with Him. The heathen 
will rage; the people will imagine vain 
things ; the kings of the earth will take 
counsel together and the rulers will com- 
bine against our Lord and His church; 
but all these foes will be disappointed. 
"He that sits in the Heavens laughs, the 
Lord has them in derision." Measured 
against the power of God they are more 
ridiculous than a man would be who 
should stand in front of a great railway 
train, drawn by a 150-ton engine, and 
consisting of fifteen heavy coaches, and 
seek to blow it from the track by shaking 
his fist and talking loud. The fact is, 
Jesus Christ owns this world ; shortly He 
will come to icxke possession of His own ; 
meanwhile, the things which can be 
shaken will be shaken, and the things 
which cannot be shaken will remain. 



We should not be satisfied with being 
saved ourselves. W r e should labor for 
the salvation of others. 



If our names are in the Book of Life, 
by and by when the name is called, we 
shall say, like Samuel, "Here am I," and 
haste away to meet Him. — D. L. Moody. 



264 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



January, 1920. 



A Candid Talk on Lodgism as the Hand 
maiden of the Church 



BY REV. MARTIN L. WAGNER, DAYTON, 
OHIO. 



One of the specious claims made by 
lodgism in justification of itself is that 
the lodges are the handmaidens of the 
Church, and that there are a great 
many ministers, not lodge members, who 
also take this position and defend the 
lodge on this ground. As the argument 
seems plausible, and to some conclusive, 
many persons accept it without further 
investigation. 

Let us first inquire — Does the Church 
need any handmaidens in order that she 
may fulfill Christ's design in establish- 
ing her? If she does need them, surely 
Christ would have provided them or 
plainly authorized His Church to do so. 
If the true nature and office of the 
Church is understood, there can be but 
one answer to this question, and that in 
the negative. She needs none. But 
should she need them, surely it would 
be her prerogative, and that of her Lord, 
to select them, and not the prerogative 
of the one professing to be the hand- 
maiden to thrust herself into the home 
and sphere of the lawful spouse and 
usurp her office. The Church needs no 
handmaiden. Neither she in the exer- 
cise of her lawful rights and specific of- 
fice, nor her Lord Jesus Christ have ap- 
pointed or authorized any. The argu- 
ment that she needs these to aid her in 
her work is based upon a radical miscon- 
ception of what the Church is, and what 
her office is in the economy of Grace. 
She is in a pre-eminent sense the bride 
of Christ, and the spiritual mother of 
all true sons of God, born not of cor- 
ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by 
the Word of God (John 1:13; I Pet. 
1 :23). Christ is not an adulterer in that 
He would accept a handmaiden instead 
of or in additoin to His lawful spouse. 
"Christ loved the Church and gave Him- 
self for it that He might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by 
the Word, that He might present it to 
Himself a glorious Church, not having 
spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy and without blem- 



ish (Eph. 5:24-27)." Nothing like this 
stands written concerning these hand- 
maidens, except possibly in the lodge lec- 
tures. It is doubtless because of this de- 
lusion concerning the relative rank of the 
lodge and the Church that some lodge- 
men say they have joined the lodge for 
the glory of the Church. As well say 
they have become an adulterer, a polyga- 
mist for the glory of marriage. 

This handmaiden business and argu- 
ment has been a source of trouble in the 
entire history of God's dealings with 
men, and the end is not yet. We meet 
with it in Abraham's home. When the 
Lord promised a son to Abraham after 
both he and Sarah, his wife, were well 
stricken in years, and when in the ordi- 
nary course of nature it was impossible 
for such a thing to occur, Sarah doubted. 
She doubted Jehovah's ability to fulfill 
that promise. She inwardly felt that 
Jehovah had gotten Himself into a di- 
lemma, and in order to save His honor 
and prestige over against the gods of the 
Canaanites, she must employ her skill 
and wisdom to help Him out of His pre- 
dicament. A solution suggested itself to 
Sarah. She would give her handmaiden, 
Hagar, to Abraham as a secondary wife. 
And behold, in due time a son was born 
to Abraham. Thus Sarah helped Je- 
hovah to fulfill His promise that Abra- 
ham should have a son. 

But what a progeny he proved to be! 
He was of mongrel blood, half Hebrew 
and half Egyptian. He was a wild man. 
His hand was against every man's hand. 
He persecuted the child of promise, 
Isaac, who subsequently was born to 
Abraham by Sarah. And because of 
these Ishmaelites, real and spiritual, the 
world has been full of violence ever since 
then — the children of the handmaiden 
persecuting and mocking the children of 
promise. God's attitude toward this spir- 
itual adultery and its offspring is indi- 
cated in the words, "Cast out the bond- 
woman and her child, for the child of 
the bondwoman shall not be heir with 



January, 1920. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



265 



the child of the freewoman (Gen. 21 :io, 
12; Gal. 4:30)." 

This insidious unbelief prevails largely 
in the churches of to-day. Christ has 
promised that through the Church's 
ministrations of Word and Sacrament 
there should be begotten and born unto 
Him a spiritual progeny who should be 
heirs of the Kingdom which God has pre- 
pared from the foundation of the world. 
But there are men and women in the 
Church who solemnly profess to believe 
Christ's ; promises, and ministers of the 
Gospel who solemnly promised in their 
ordination to preach this Gospel of Jesus 
Christ as the sole power of God unto 
salvation to every one that believes, who 
doubt this Word and promise of God, 
and like Sarah believe that they are 
called upon to offer their own wisdom 
unto God and help Him out of the di- 
lemma of creating a barren Church, and 
in order that she may maintain her honor 
and prestige among the institutions on 
earth, suggest these Egyptian handmaid- 
ens — lodges whose religious principles 
are essentially Egyptian — as the second- 
ary consorts of Christ to bring forth spir- 
itual children unto Him, so that His 
Kingdom may be filled with souls. It is 
an attempt to make Christ approve spir- 
itual concubinage. This is what it means 
and w r hat it is in its logical analysis. 

This handmaiden argument is incipi- 
ent unbelief. It disbelieves that the 
Church through Word and Sacrament 
can have spiritual children of God and 
bring them into His Kingdom. It chal- 
lenges the declaration that the Gospel is 
the power of God unto salvation to every 
one that believes : that it is both the 
Power of God and the Wisdom of God 
(Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:24, 2:5; 2 Cor. 
to:it; James 1:18). It assumes that 
the Church, the spouse of Christ, is bar- 
ren, decrepit, stricken in years, and con- 
sequently a failure, and that these lodges 
must now come in and bring forth chil- 
dren for the Kingdom of Heaven. The 
old temple has fallen into decay in their 
opinion, and thev as lodgemen must la- 
bor in building the new. 

This handmaiden argument is a plea 
for spiritual immorality and a justifica- 
tion of spiritual adultery and fornica- 
tion. The efforts and schemes of men 
in the history of Israel to join the wor- 



ship of Jehovah with the worship of 
nature was characterized as whoredom. 
It was an effort on the part of these false 
religionists to make Jehovah recognize 
these religions and their spiritual off- 
spring as His spiritual children. It was 
tempting God to repudiate His own wor- 
ship, to approve confusion, and to share 
His glory with another. And so we 
contend these modern efforts on the part 
of men who are in the Church, but not 
of the Church, to have the Church, the 
true, lawful spouse of Christ, bring 
these so-called handmaidens into His 
home, asking Christ to recognize them 
as secondary consorts, and their off- 
spring as his legitimate children, is not 
only tempting the Church to approve for- 
nication, but also to make Christ a spir- 
itual polygamist and a spiritual adulterer. 
Christ unequivocally stands for order. 
The Church is His bride, His wife, and 
shame on him who would attempt to 
thrust a handmaiden of human selection 
and heathen blood into His presence and 
expect Him to desert His lawful bride 
for these t Egyptian interlopers. The 
prayers offered by ministers in behalf of 
these handmaidens, addressed to Christ 
as we have heard them, remind us of the 
enticing language of the harlots as de- 
scribed in the proverbs of the wise man 
(Prov. 7:14-23). 

This handmaiden argument is the es- 
sence of heathenism. To hold that man 
can and must offer his assistance, his 
profound wisdom to God in order to 
work out His purpose and to fulfill His 
promise, is not only incipient unbelief, 
but it is the first element of heathenism. 
It is a rejection of the God of revelation, 
and a rejection of the salvation He has 
prepared, and a substitution of a human 
scheme of salvation for that divinely pre- 
pared and of human wisdow as superior 
to the divine wisdom. It proclaims the 
power of man unto salvation to every 
one that is initiated. 

This handmaiden contention is an im- 
peachment of the eternal counsel of Je- 
hovah.. His judgments are unsearchable, 
and His wavs past finding out. If none 
can know the mind of the Lord, is it 
not the height of folly and presumption 
on the nart of man to propose to be His 
counsellor? (Rom. 12:34.) Christ, not 
man. is Jehovah's counsellor (Isa. 9:6). 



266 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



January, 1920. 



This handmaiden business is robbery. 
It robs Christ of His honor, of His ver- 
acity, of His moral and spiritual virtue, 
of His office and power as the soul's 
Savior and Redeemer. It robs the 
Church of the joys of spiritual mother- 
hood, the joys of training her children 
in the things' of the Kingdom of God. 

It is spiritual wickedness. It breaks 
down the laws and the ethics of spiritual 
action and conducts, and vitiates all the 
obligations of the redeemed soul to 
Christ. It deliberately tramples under 
foot all the laws of spiritual govern- 
ment, service and duty, and substitutes 
for them rules of conduct and personal 
merit which vitiate the Grace offered in 
the Kingdom of God. 

It is self-contradictory. Lodgism has 
not the office of teaching the Gospel, has 
not the Word and Sacraments, nor the 
instruments whereby the Holy Spirit 
works faith. It cannot therefore bring 
forth true children unto God. If so be 
the lodge is the handmaiden, then in the 
light of the Scriptures, and the teachings 
of the Church, it is an absolutely barren 
one, so far as it is possible to bring forth 
true children of God. If a motherhood 
is possible, it is only to produce spiritual 
monsters. 

It is confusion. It fills the world with 
spiritual monsters, mongrels in faith and 
worship, half heathen, half Hebrew, 
whose hands are against every effort to 
exact the salvation through Christ. As 
in the days of Noah, giants were born 
of the union of the sons of God and the 
daughters of men, who filled the earth 
with violence, even so it is now. Is it 
any wonder that God threatens to pun- 
ish the world with judgment if it apos- 
talizes from the relevation of His love 
in Jesus Christ? (2 Thes. 2:1-12.) 

Christ honored the Church. He re- 
fused to honor any institution that would 
supplant her great work of witnessing 
for Him and in bringing souls into the 
Kingdom. We hold that for men who 
bear the Christian name and profess the 
Christian faith to adhere to, support and 
defend these self-appointed handmaid- 
ens is to set Christ's work at naught, to 
minimize what God has done for us 
through Christ, and to magnify what 
poor, blind, helpless, sinful man can do 
for his own salvation. 



PEACE WITH GOD. 

The blessing of most value that can 
come to man is to have peace with God. 
It was the benediction of Jesus as he 
bade farewell to His disciples before He 
ascended to Heaven. 

Jesus does not promise the true be- 
liever a peace, but His peace — that same 
sweet spirit that He possessed when on 
earth working among men. Before you 
can make an animal feel content and 
happy in the company of man, you must 
create a man nature within him. And 
before man can enjoy the peace of God 
— that peace which passeth all under- 
standing — he must first be a partaker of 
the divine nature. "Whereby are given 
unto us exceeding great and precious 
promises ; that by these ye might be par- 
takers of the divine nature (2 Peter 

1:4). 

Almost every good and worthy cause 
in the world has its counterfeit — even 
religion. The lodge in many ways has 
taken its pattern from the Church, for 
it has an altar, prayers, ritual, burial 
ceremony and chaplain. The whole 
lodge system is a counterfeit. There is 
nothing in the lodge which can change 
the nature of man and lead him to God. 
Its initiations and ceremonies cannot sat- 
isfy the soul of man when he yearns for 
the true peace. You may place a sinner 
in the lodge and ransack the earth to 
find material things with which to satisfy 
him : you may flatter him, and you may 
administer to his wants in pleasure, but 
his soul would cry out from the depths 
of his heart, "All is vanity and vexation 
of spirit." 

The child of God has a sweet and 
perfect peace such as can only come 
from God. He may experience the 
most trying circumstances and every 
door of outward enjoyment may be shut 
to him, but it is then that Jesus Christ 
becomes more precious and in His own 
mild tones of love says, "Peace be unto 
you." The individual who has this 
peace of God can meet earthly trials 
not only calmly and fearlessly, but he 
can rejoice in all the appointments of 
his Heavenly Father. 

A. H. Leaman. 



The Lord loves to use tools which are 
not rusted with self-conceit. — Spurgeon. 



January, 1920. 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



267 



Why I Do Not Join the Lodge 



BY A. D. WENCER. 



First. — I do not join the lodge because 
I know I would have to swear when ini- 
tiated. The man that swears disobeys 
his God. The most insignificant oath is a 
violation of the eternal Word. "Swear 
not at all." Matt. 5 134. "But above all 
things, my brethren, swear not, neither 
by heaven, neither by the earth, neither 
by any other oath." James 5:12. The 
man who unites with the lodge is sworn 
by most terrible oaths ever to conceal and 
never reveal the secrets of the lodge 
before he knows what those secrets are. 
It is astonishing that men of rank and 
learning fling principle and manliness 
away by binding themselves to a thing 
not yet made known to them, but never- 
theless sensual and devilish. It is a step 
in the dark; God's children walk in the 
light. Some of the oaths of oath-bound 
secret organizations bind men to do 
things contrary to the laws of the land, 
thus making lodgites enemies to our gov- 
ernment. A part of the oath taken by 
the Royal Arch Masons reads as follows : 
"Furthermore, do I promise and swear 
that I will aid and assist any companion 
Royal Arch Mason, when engaged in any 
difficulty and espouse his cause, so far 
as to extricate him from the same, if in 
my power, whether right or wrong. Fur- 
thermore, do I promise and swear, that a 
companion Royal Arch Mason's secrets 
given me in charge as such, shall remain 
secure and inviolable in my breast as his 
own, murder and treason not excepted." 
Men bound by oaths that thwart justice 
and cover crime are dangerous to any 
community, to any state. I would that 
all the states would follow the example 
of Vermont by passing prohibitory laws 
making all illegal oaths subject to heavy 
fines. Beware of the oath that binds 
you to the arch-enemy's business. 
Lodge Initiations Degrading. 
Second. — I do not join the lodge be- 
cause the initiations are shameful and de- 
grading. Deprived of his coat, shoes and 
pantaloons, the half-naked candidate is 
led blindfolded and by a halter around 
the room, kneeling and swearing blood- 
curdling oaths for half an hour. Perhaps 
a hundred men — doctors, lawyers, bank- 



ers, merchants, preachers, etc. — witness 
the disgraceful proceedings. Wife and 
mother would blush for shame if they 
knew the conduct of him who was absent 
from the home that night, and in a place 
too unholy for women's feet to tread. 
Jumping on spikes, masking faces, wrap- 
ping the body in chains, being led, like a 
dumb beast, around the room with a 
halter and swearing pestilential oaths 
under penalty of having the heart cut 
out,- the bowels taken out, or the head 
cut off, are things to be held beneath the 
dignity of true manhood. Not infrequent- 
ly an accident befalls the candidate be- 
fore he completes all the maneuvers of 
his initiation and he is left a corpse or 
maimed for life. A few men of moral 
stamina and the courage of their con- 
victons never go near the lodge after 
their first night, and boldly tell the world 
they never felt nearer the infernal 
regions than when they were initiated. 
Bad promises, bad oaths, and bad fellow- 
ship are better broken than kept. 
Secrecy Contrary to Bible. 
Third. — I do not join the lodge be- 
cause their works are done in secret. 
This is contrary to the Bible. The divine 
Master said nothing in secret but ever 
spoke openly and in public. The good 
things that He revealed to His disciples 
privately He tells them to proclaim from 
the housetops. Secrecy is a fundamental 
principle of the lodge and under its foul 
cover theft, adultery, murder and treason 
go unpunished, and deeds of shame to 
Christian professors and refined society 
are perpetrated. It is really a "shame 
even to speak of those things which are 
done in secret." Perhaps we would never 
know some of their unfruitful w r orks of 
darkness, were it not for the fact that 
scores of manly men, who were blindly 
led into the lodge, have renounced all 
allegiance to the fraternity and divulged 
the secrets to all who will read and take 
warning. Jesus commands us to let our 
lights shine before men that they may 
be influenced for good, but in the lodge, 
if there be any light it is put under a 
bushel. There is nothing creditable in 
hiding a cause for the betterment of 



268 



CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE 



January, 1920. 



mankind from the knowledge of the pub- 
lic. If we know a good thing for our 
fellow men it is our moral and Christian 
duty to tell it out and blaze it abroad in 
the world. Openness means fairness ; 
generosity ; harmlessness ; secrecy means 
somebody is likel> to be hurt, and under 
the cloak of secrecy nearly all evil con- 
spirators orginate. 

Name of Jesus Excluded. 
Fourth. — I do not join the lodge be- 
cause it seldom mentions the name of 
Jesus. Free Masonry excludes the name 
of Jesus from her prayers, and it is not 
good Masonry to mention the name of 
Christ in the lodge; Jewish, infidel and 
other unbelieving brethren might be 
offended. In Masonic rituals certain por- 
tions of Scripture are read but whenever 
the name of Jesus occurs they have de- 
liberately stricken out the name. Their 
prayers and Scripture readings are more 
suitable for Jews and